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Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Karatsu Kunchi

Start:     Nov 2, '10
End:     Nov 4, '10
Location:     Kyushu, Japan
Celebrated at the Karatsu Shrine and known for its colorful parade of floats.

The festival, which begins on the evening of November 2 and concludes on the 4th, features daily parades of fourteen hikiyama. These are massive floats in the form of dragons, samurai helmets, sea bream, and other supercalifragilistic creatures, all constructed from lacquer, wood and other materials.

It is designated as part of Japan's important intangible ethnic and cultural heritage. Every year, over 150,000 (sometimes reaching 500,000) spectators crowd both sides of the street and give thanks for the year's harvest. After the festival, the floats are exhibited in the float museum behind Karatsu Shrine.





pictures from the internet

16 comments:

  1. whenever i see travelogues of Japan, they always seem to be either intelligent as to content( hi tech) stuff or very colorful & festive...envy you Cat...hope you have a great time.

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  2. I won't be able to get to this, but I figured its fun to point out festivals in Japan during the time I am planning to be there (but in another city haha!).

    I wish I could see this though....that huge fish looks good enough to eat!

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  3. goldfish yun no! sabagay baka mas malasa yan kesa sa Koi? hehehe Sashimi!

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  4. di yata..LOL!

    its a sea bream...

    *I remember suddenly how my weak goldfishes were eaten by my arowana*

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  5. I double-checked (baka naman goldfish kc ...o di ba?)

    Hikiyama No. 5 (1845)
    Tai or sea bream

    ang label sa picture na to...

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  6. btw, for those who are curious...here is the list of hikiyama (so fixed pala talaga ang 14 floats nila)

    o 1 red lion
    o 2 blue(green) lion
    o 3 Turtle and fisherman URASHIMA Taro
    o 4 Helmet of Samurai MIYAMOTO Yoshitsune
    o 5 sea bream
    o 6 phoenix-shaped ship
    o 7 flying dragon
    o 8 golden lion
    o 9 Helmet of Samurai TAKEDA Shingen
    o 10 Helmet of Samurai UESUGI Kenshin
    o 11 drunken monster orge and the helmet of Samurai MINAMOTO Yorimitsu
    o 12 lion grabbing a ball
    o 13 tiger-headed orca
    o 14 dragon-headed ship
    o disappear :black lion

    actually, I'm just imagining how they look like..hehehe!

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  7. Very colourful. I'll never tire of seeing the many varied "Matsuri"
    Hugs.

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  8. yes, floats like these are a joy to watch..and i bet in Japan its all orderly :-)

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  9. Not always so orderly but entertaining yes. The street parade parts are normally reasonably orderly but the actual Matsuri at the Shrine can at times be very rough, for example the "Fighting Festival" in Himeji where spectators need to be very careful to avoid being knocked down and crushed underfoot.

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  10. then it pays to be big and tall then..or perched on a tree ...

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  11. Behind a tree is safer, I was in fact knocked down but did not get injured, I landed on top of a woman, we were both helped up by one of the team members. at this Matsuri on day two.

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  12. hopefully the woman was not bony and didn't poke your eye LOL...
    and I hope she wasn't hurt...

    hmm...I seem to recall you saying that in an album I think in your last visit...you had photos of that crowded festival that time...

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  13. She was very nice and soft, but not fat being Japanese, She was not hurt in fact became very friendly so we could both laugh it off.
    Yes, true, I mentioned it in either one of the photo albums or perhaps my daily blog from that holiday, yes, 2009 was the year that I really saw many "Matsuri"

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  14. very fortunate of you to fall on somebody a bit more cushy than hard stone *grin*

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  15. great to take note of this and tfs Cath! Japanese festivals are alwys well organized ^^ i love to see the cherry blossoms fest and shoot as well ^^

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  16. hay...thats my despair ...hahaha!

    di ko naabutan ang sakura in full bloom the first time I was there...

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