Fireworks Festival Season Just Started In Japan!

In Japan fireworks festivals are generally considered as seasonal events in summer. In fact most of those festivals are held during summer vacation season and it just started. We can find many fireworks festivals all over Japan between the end of July and August. It is said that the origin was “Sumida-River Fireworks Festival” in 1733, which became the biggest fireworks festival in Japan. 

From 1603 Japan was ruled by Tokugawa family's Shogunate government 1867. Thus Japan didn't have a big war for more than 260 years. People started using gunpowder for entertainments, such as fireworks, and the techniques was improved to aerial shell types. 

In 1733, the 8th Shogun planned the first big fireworks event in mid-summer. It was to pray for the repose of the victims who died in a terrible famine and an epidemic in 1732. The Japanese word for fireworks is "Hanabi" and it actually means 'fire-flowers', so maybe the Shogun planned to offer flowers in the Sky for the deceased. The event was held on the opening day of swimming season at Sumida-River in Tokyo and since then the festival has been held every summer and now it is called  “Sumida-River Fireworks Festival”.

Probably this annual fireworks event gave people an impression of "fireworks are summer seasonal stuff". Nowadays there are many annual fireworks festivals all over Japan, and many of them are held during summer. Also the spirit of fire-flowers, which is for prayers/wishes, have been carried down, too. So if you have a chance to visit some local fireworks festivals, you can find 'Offering Fireworks' in their written programs or announcements at the festivals. Of course nowadays we don't have any serious famine and epidemics, so people's prayers/wishes are usually more personal, such as 'for the sake of family member's health' and 'for some anniversaries'. People donate money and ask for setting off an offering fireworks. Although local fireworks festivals are much smaller in scale than famous major fireworks festivals, it's also nice to go. You can see flowers for people's prayers/wishes in the sky!

(The photos were taken at Hachioji Fireworks Festival in Hachioji city, Tokyo.)

A Tale Of Hachioji In Days Of Yore Told By An Old Indigo Dyeing Craftsman

When I returned to the Noguchi Studio of Edo-style Nagaita Chukei Indogo Dyeing, which I have been introducing in my recent posts, Mr. Noguchi was working on new fabrics that have a nice gray color. It was still unfinished since fabrics have to be dipped into dyes many times to make a fine color in the traditional way. 

While I was gazing at the finished beautiful gray fabrics on the upper left end photo, the aged craftsman started to tell me about the old days of this studio...

Actually the original work of Noguchi Studio was only dyeing. They received fabrics already masked for the design, then they just dyed those fabrics. In old times, there were many small studios in textile business circle and specific tasks were assigned for each studio. For example, some studios were making ingredients for dyeing, while some other studios were  masking fabrics with stencils to put designs. It was like a big production line participated by many private studios to complete Kimono fabrics.

In addition, there were many textile mills nearby that provided plain fabrics. In fact Hachioji city had been prosperous with fabric business and it was a widely known "textile town". However, people started to wear Western clothes and with the declining demand for Kimono fabrics, small studios and textile mills disappeared one by one. Noguchi Studio had to undertake the work of other small studio's in order to keep going. Now they buy plain fabrics and perform the entire work of Indigo dyeing for Kimono all by themselves. 

The only thing reminds us of the old days of thriving textile business are old buildings in the area as you can see in the photos on the bottom. These are remains of old textile mills although they are now owned by different companies. Mr. Noguchi remembers when he was little the textile mills were still running with many young factory girls working within. 

Apparently the factory girls could receive their factory products sometimes, as a role of fabric, as an additional compensation. They made a new Kimono by themselves. Sewing Kimono was a very easy work for them, however, making a plain white cotton Kimono was a problem. In Japanese culture, plain Kimono in pure white is actually a clothing for one's last journey. Therefore, the girls used to come to Noguchi studio, which was just in a few minutes away, and asked to dye their white cloth received from their company. 

Today, I think even Japanese can't easily imagine these situations of the old days in Hachioji. I love Kimono and Kimono culture but it's been decades since Kimono stopped being everyday wear. However, this area would be a good place to see the history of the textile town Hachioji!

How Does Noguchi Studio in Hachioji-city Tokyo Perform Nagaita-Chukei Indigo Dyeing?

I have introduced a traditional craft-work studio of Indigo dyeing in my previous posts on July 18th and 20th. Their products are called "Edo-style Nagaita-Chukei" and used for summer Kimono/Yukata. The studio is carrying on old-fashioned techniques which are rare today. Then, how do they actually make the beautiful fabrics? What are the old-fashioned techniques of Indigo dyeing? I'm going to explain briefly here. 

Roughly their work can be divided into two parts. The first process is putting designs on white cotton fabrics with masking paste. The second process is dyeing the masked fabric with Indigo dye. 

Let's look at the steps in more detail. The upper row of the photos above is showing the first process. A craftsman is putting the design of chrysanthemum flowers and a little stream on a very thin plastic stencil. Actually their stencils were made of Washi (Japanese traditional papers) in old times, but due to the declining number of the craftsmen of Washi and increasing cost of custom-made Washi, they had no choice but to switch to plastic stencils. 

The paste he is painting on the stencil is made from rice. As it is an organic paste, it is easily taken off and eco-friendly. However, disadvantage of the rice paste is that it does not keep very long, and can get moldy easily even after it is applied on fabrics, and therefore humidity must be carefully monitored. 

After putting design on the cloth with the paste, the fabric are dried the sun and stored with long boards on the ceiling shelf in the studio. The same process is repeated to make enough quality of one design. The next step is putting the masking paste on the backside of the fabrics which will make a perfect contrast of white color and Indigo color in the fabrics. This concludes the first process. The masked fabrics are removed from the long boards, and hooked to bamboo sticks. The bamboo sticks works as hangers when the fabrics are dipped into Indigo dye colors. 

In Noguchi Studio, there are more than 10 big pots buried on the ground under a roof. The Indigo dye liquid inside of the pots is extracted from a plants. Temperature of the pots and the thickness of the liquid are carefully controlled throughout a year to keep good condition for dyeing since these are all organic and have to be kept fermenting well. You can see some fermenting foam floating on the pots in the photos above.

The second process, their dyeing work, seems very simple. They just grab a bamboo hanger, hook masked cloth on it and dip it into the pot. However, depending on how long and how many times they dip the cloth, the strength of indigo color would be different as you can see the small piece of fabrics in the middle photo on the lower row. Moreover, to make a deep indigo blue with clear white design is not so easy. If the more you dip the cloth the more masking paste is going to dissolve in the dye since the paste is not so tough in liquid. If they dip the cloth too long, or too many times, the design would be faded. Now you can see their work is very delicate and requires many years of experience. Because of their skilled work the fabrics are so beautifully done.

By the way, dyed fabrics are actually yellowish color when they were pulled out from the dye. After they are exposed into air, they gradually turn into indigo color by chemical reaction. The phenomenon looks very mysterious. After the reaction was done, the fabrics are washed to take off the masking paste completely and dried under the sun. I wonder how ancient people invented the whole process!

A Short Video Of Traditional Japanese Indigo-Dyeing Work Of 'Nagaita-Chukei' Fabrics

This video was taken at the studio in Hachioji city which I introduced in my previous post. They are carrying on a rare and traditional technique of Indigo-Dyeing called Edo-style "Nagaita-Chukei" (Edo is the old name of Tokyo).  Their products are used for summer Kimono/Yukata. Also take a look at their beautiful fabrics shown below!

Introducing A Traditional Craftwork Studio For Kimono/Yukata (Cotton Summer Kimono) In Tokyo

In connection to my previous post regarding the difference between Japanese traditional clothes "Kimono" and "Yukata", I'd like to introduce a traditional work studio for the fabrics today.

The left hand side photo is showing a studio for “Nagaita-Chukei (Long board-Middle size)”. Can you guess what it means? Actually this is the name of one type of traditional Japanese indigo dyeing. The products from this type of dyeing is used for making the highest grade of summer cotton Kimono (Yukata). “Long board” came from the tool（16.5～19.7 feet long) used in this dying and “Middle size” indicates the size of the design patterns (Kimonos are classified by the size of the design patterns). 

Nagaita-Chukei is very traditional and requires many years of training, so only the Noguchi Dyeing Studio in Hachioji continues to use this technique with organic ingredients as used in the day of yore. What is unique about their technique is that they mask both sides of the cloth before dyeing. The contrast of the indigo blue and the white becomes perfectly clear as you can see in the upper right hand side photo. This is very difficult since the design on the top and the bottom of the cloth have to be matched perfectly.

Now there are only two craftsmen, Mr. Noguchi and his son (in the left hand side photo), remaining who practice Edo (old name of Tokyo area) style Nagaita-Chukei dyeing throughout Japan. It is sad to say but in fact the numbers of craftsmen are rapidly decreasing for many Japanese traditional craftworks. It might be an inevitable consequence of the quick changes happening in modern days.

Mr. Noguchi seemed to take the fact calmly and said “Nowadays, not everybody is buying Kimonos since they are not everyday clothes anymore. Moreover, I don’t think our old-fashioned method is fitting in the current market system since it takes too much time and work. Today everything has to be done fast using high-tech tools like the internet. Even if there was a person who wanted to learn this technique, I can’t guarantee that he could make a living. So I can’t recommend it as a job to anybody…” However I really hope these beautiful fabrics and their fantastic techniques are handed down to generations to come.  

The fabrics are actually available at the studio. People can buy them directly from Mr. Noguchi although they have to buy at least a whole role of it (about 39 feet, which is enough length to make a Kimono/Yukata) . 

What Is The Difference Between Kimono and Yukata?

Recently I introduced some topics relating Geishas, and posted the photos on the left end of the upper row. The traditional clothes Geisha ladies are wearing is called "Yukata" and actually Japanese people usually distinguish "Yukata" from the well-known Traditional Japanese clothes "Kimono".

What is the difference? The photos in upper row are showing "Yukata" and the photos in lower row are showing Kimono. It looks similar, but "Yukata" is always made of cotton and it is a single layer clothes. On the contrary, materials of Kimono can be anything. It can be made of cotton, silk, wool, and even polyester, and "Kimono" always has two layers or more and you can tell it by checking the neck. When people wear "Kimono" they show the layers clearly on the neck. The neck of the first layer tend to be white, but if a kimono has more than two layers people can add more colors and it can give nice color accents as you can see in the lower center photo. The neck of Kimono would be one of the parts people can show their fashion sense or color coordination. 

Moreover the difference between "Yukata" and "Kimono" is not only the material and structure. The usages of them are also different and it is actually shown in the Chinese characters of each. The Chinese characters of "Kimono (着物）" means "Things to Wear", so it is a general word for clothes/wear. On the other hand, the Chinese characters of "Yukata (浴衣）" actually means "bath-cloth" since it was originally for home-wear/bathrobe although nowadays people wear it to go out to festivals and events during summer. 

Therefore people still separate the two and "Yukata" would be considered as a very casual wear compared with the recognition that "Kimono" is a proper/formal wear. In the photos above, the upper left end photo and lower left end photo are both showing Hachioji Geisha ladies. Geisha is one of the jobs people always need to wear traditional clothes, but when they show dance or play instruments, which are their main work, in front of people they wear "Kimono", and when they just show up at some summer events or during their private time, people probably can find them in "Yukata". Maybe it is like the difference between wearing suits with a white shirts and wearing a T-shirts with a short pants?

Photos Of Hachioji Geisha's Dance At An Indoor Sake Event In Hachioji City, Tokyo

I introduced a local Sake event with Geisha held in Hachioji City, Tokyo, in my previous post on July 9th. Then, I'd like to show frame-by-frame pictures of a Geisha's dance taken at the event in this post. She is also a Hachioji Geisha. Hope you will enjoy her elegant postures! 

As I wrote on 9th, this Sake event isn't held now because the building including the restaurant which had been the site of the event was already torn down. Although I do understand the importance of the architectural requirements against earthquakes since Japan is an earthquake country, it is sad to hear that such a beautiful old building had to be taken down. 

Can People See Geisha In Town? How About In Tokyo?

Although it would be one of the most well-known icons of Japanese culture, Geisha has all but vanished. In few old towns such as Kyoto, Geisha business and system are still working, and it is possible to see Geisha and Maiko-girls (who are on the training to be Geisha), but not possible in other parts of Japan although you may be able to find some "Geisha Shows".

Real Geisha are clearly in declining and it appears this profession may be extinct shortly. Even though it is the biggest city and the capital of Japan, Tokyo is not an exception. Today, you can't expect to see Geisha walking in town. Then where can we go to have a chance to see these rare ladies?

First of all, Geisha have always worked in limited small districts. Each Geisha belongs to one of the traditional districts and works wothin, and Geisha have been called and distinguished with the name of  their own district, such as Shinbashi-geisha, Kagurazaka-geisha, and Mukojima-geisha, and so on. However, even if go to one of the areas to see Geisha, it wouldn't be easy to see them in these days due to the small number of Geisha employed.

As I introduced in my post previously on the July 2nd and 4th, Hachioji City in West Tokyo is actually one of the few districts in Tokyo where Geisha are still working, although this is not well-known well even among Japanese. Apparently Hachioji-geisha almost disappeared once in the past but some locals made lots of effort to revive the culture, and the numbers are recovering recently. There was even a debut of a new Hangyoku (it is the name for the young girls who are on training to be Geisha in Tokyo area) recently, for the first time in 50 years.

The photos were all taken at the "Hachioji Matsuri (Hachioji Festival)" in the August 2015. This local festival is usually held in the first weekend (through Fri-Sun) of August and you can see Hachioji-geisha showing their dance in the evening of the first day!

A Short Video of Hachioji Geisha's Dance At A Hachioji Summer Event

As I introduced in my previous post on July 2nd, there was a local event called "Summer Seasonal Market (Natsu-no-Fubutsu Ichi)" near JR Hachioji Station in West Tokyo between July 2nd and 3rd. 

Hachioji Geishas showed their dance and some traditional entertainment games for Geisha parties twice a day during this event. Geisha is a very well-known word, but "Geisha" literally means "people with artistic skills", and they are in fact entertainers. 

It wouldn't be easy to watch them doing their job since they usually work for private parties. Geisha ladies are not only pouring sake at these parties as often shown in dramas and movies, but they also dance, sing songs, and play instruments for their clients. Moreover they also play fun games with their clients.

Although the dance shown during the event was a traditional Japanese dance and most people are not familiar with that kind of dance nowadays, it represented a number of famous tourist spots in Japan then it was easy to understand. Even if you don't know any famous temple/shrine names in Japan, you would be able to recognize Sumo wrestling and Mt. Fuji in the dance. 

The next open event to see their performance would be the annual Hachioji summer festival in August. Every year, on the first day of the "Hachioji Festival", a Hachioji geisha dance show named "Yoimiya-no-Mai" takes place from 6:30pm at Nakamachi Park on Nishi-Houshasen-You-Road connected to JR Hachioji Station. 

Good Chance To See Traditional Festival Stuff, Annual Hachioji Summer Market Is Being Held!

This weekend (July 2nd and 3rd, from 9:00am to 7pm), the annual Hachioji Summer Market (Natsu-no-Fubutsu Ichi) is being held around JR Hachioji Station. 

Along the Nishi-Hoshasen You Road (laid out from the north exit of JR Hachioji Station ) you can stroll around the Asagao-Ichi (Morning Glory Market) and stalls selling traditional style wind chimes and local goodies. 

There are more traditional old-days style festival stalls, which are not just selling goods/food. They also have entertainment aspects. People can enjoy getting the goods/food after they paid for it, for example, fishing small balloons floating on the water in a big tank, scooping gold fishes from a big fish tank. At traditional candy stalls, people can order to form the candy into any shape they want to have as you can see in the upper right hand side photo. Also traditional paper-cutting stalls, which cut paper into any shape by people's requests, are poplar among little kids.

In addition, since Hachioji is one of the few towns which still have Geisha people. You can see Hachioji Geisha ladies at the Morning Glory Market. What's more, there are Geisha shows on Ekimae-Ginza Street twice a day at 1pm and 2:30pm. they show traditional dance and traditional games for Geisha parties. There will be a time to take photos with Geisha ladies after the show. 

It's a nice local seasonal event!

It is Fuji's 'Yama-biraki Day', The Climbing Season Started At Mt.Fuji!

Today, July 1st , finally the climbing season for Mt. Fuji started! It is called “Yama-biraki Day(Mountain-Opening Day)".

Last year, new safety goods were equipped at the mountain huts and the evacuation map for Mt.Fuji was being made for the first time ever. It might sound strange since it is one of the most famous volcanoes in Japan, but the last eruption of Fuji was in 1707. Mt. Fuji has been dormant for more than 300 years, so Japanese people almost forgot the fact that it is a non-dead volcano and hadn’t really thought of the eruption. However people started to think about the possibility in these years since some volcanoes has become active recently and a couple of them erupted all of sudden.

The photos are the chronological change of Mt.Fuji between April to July, taken from the west side of Tokyo. It looks very beautiful from far distance, but when you go close to climb the mountain you will see the upper place of it is covered by volcanic sand and rocks and has no plants. After all it is really a volcano.

There are more photos of Mt.Fuji on the "Mt.Fuji" page of this website!