August is one of the major vacation period for Japanese people and also it is a time of festivals. Traditionally Japanese towns are divided into small neighborhoods and people in each neighborhood make up a community called “Chonaikai” which literally means "Neighborhood Association in Town Blocks". In Japan "Chonaikai" is usually the smallest unit of local communities.
Old towns such as Hachioji-City in Tokyo still keep the traditional activities based on “Chonaikai”. There are around 20 “Chonaikai”s along Rd.20, a historical national road in Hachioji downtown, with their own traditional festival carts called "Dashi" or portable shrines designed for festivals called "Mikoshi" belonging to their neighborhood shrines.
“Chonaikai” come together for Hachioji Festival every year, held for. Three days in the first weekend in August. During the festival people in each “Chonaikai” walk on Rd.20 pulling their festival carts and playing their festival music. The movie above shows one of the festival carts pulled by the “Chonaikai” people along Rd.20.
There are more posts about Hachioji Festival, Dashi (Festival carts) and Mikoshi (Portable shries) on this website! Please check!
Post on August 4th 2016 "Ready for Summer Festivals? Traditional Items for Festivals"
Post on August 6th 2016 "Annual Hachioji Festival, Look At Various Festival Carts!"
Post on August 8th 2016 "How Do Festival Cart Vie In Music At Hachioji Festival?"
Post on August 11th 2016 "Mikoshi Gathering At The End Of Hachioji Festival"
Post on August 13th 2016 "Hachioji Festival Just Achieved A New Record Recognized By The Guinness Book"
No comments:
Post a Comment