Fortresses and Festivals (part 2)

During autumn and spring, there are literally hundreds of festivals - called 'matsuri' - taking place all over Japan. Some are huge - attracting many hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the country - but most are local. We were lucky enough to find a matsuri in the suburbs of Himeji, just a few stops on the train from the castle (special thanks to my friend Vincent for his Photoshop genius - see right).

Almost every neighbourhood has at least one matsuri in late summer/early autumn, traditionally related to the rice harvest. Each Shinto parish has their own 'yatai' - also called 'mishoki' - an ornate mobile shrine made of cypress wood that can weigh a couple of tons! The yatai are carried to the (non-mobile) shrine literally on the shoulders of the locals. And they do this sporting a brightly coloured headband - denoting their particular Shinto parish - a matching shirt and wearing no underwear, just 'mawashi', a loincloth made of canvas that shows off buttocks particularly well (in fact, it was noted that this was the biggest collection of bare bottoms that either Sarah, or Alex's wife Chicaco, had ever seen). The elders are allowed to wear a watch and smoke fags, and take crafty snifters of sake from hip flasks.

The shrines are hugely impressive and extraordinarily beautiful (click on the images below to see just how finely detailed they really are). One of the locals told us that to build one from scratch would cost around $100,000. It is lovingly maintained for the matsuri, and housed in its own special 'shrine garage' when not in use. For the procession, it also houses four drummers and a quite substantial taiko drum.

The raising of the yatai is accompanied by a quite violent rocking motion and chanting (presumably ancient Banshu dialect for 'strewth, that's bloody heavy mate') before it is hoisted aloft by up to 30 men with a victorious roar. It is then manoeuvred in a haphazard, rather dangerous-looking manner towards the shrine - it is said that this weaving to and fro is a deliberate act, to 'amuse' the gods. There are even 'fighting festivals' where the same shrines are used as weapons, to ram other shrines!

Preceding the grunting assemblage of semi-naked men and expensive shrinery is a phalanx of 'nobori' carriers - a bamboo pole carrying a 7m banner of embroidered thick silk. Those with no shrine-carrying or banner-hoisting to do, carry 'shide' - a 7-foot pole with brightly-coloured paper at its head, resembling a giant chrysanthemum.

We got chatting with some of the pink-clad 'neriko' (the guys who carry the yatai), who explained that they represented the Kamo shrine. They were an incredibly friendly bunch, hoisting Jessica up on to the yatai, and offering me the chance to be an honorary Kamo for the day, although I didn't take them up on their offer of hauling the yatai around.

The matsuri was a fabulous find, a glimpse of everyday Japan that displayed a community spirit and pride in tradition that was something to be admired. In stark contrast, it must be said, to my dim memories of carnivals as a kid, when hairy old fat blokes dressing up as comedy nurses and shaking buckets of loose change on the back of lorry would pass for a procession. Well, I suppose we do hairy better than the Japanese...