Takayama festival

In the Spring, for two days (the two days that we are here!), Takayama has a festival. Each of 16 or so neighborhoods hauls out a multistory shrine on wheels and rolls it around the town in a parade. Each shrine is pulled and pushed by men wearing the characteristic traditional clothing of that particular neighborhood. Some of the shrines house an elaborate system of strings that manipulate a marionette-like character at the front of the shrine. These are parked in one of the town plazas to perform "puppet shows" during the festival. We attended one of these shows today. The puppets move very slowly, acting out a story to the sound of a characteristic kind of Japanese singing similar to that heard in Noh theater (I think! Not totally sure about that!). Tor found it hard on his musical ears! One of the puppets, a female, enacted a performance that was banned about 100 years ago because it was considered too obscene. She did her little dance and then suddenly bent over, flipping her kimono over her head and revealing a dragon's head coming out of her butt area! I have to say, it was in fact a little obscene! The dragon shook and gyrated for a while, and then the woman flipped back up to standing, looking her elegant self again.

Last night, the floats were lit with beautiful paper lanterns as they paraded around town. In the dark, it was hard to make out the details that make each float special. But today we got a closer look. Each one has amazing wood carvings of dragons or other creatures. And many of the fabrics show beautiful embroidered scenes. The men who move the floats around town were everywhere. Nobuku approached one to compliment him on the beauty of his coat. He said it is 100 years old. He then took it off to show that it was reversible, and the inside showed a beautiful lion design. He modeled it for us, and then insisted that I try it on -- twice! Once with each side showing.