Culture, Culture and Rakes

November 3 is Culture Day in Japan, a national holiday. Guidebooks rarely mention it and our Japanese friends consider it a holiday for old people. But everyone gets Monday off, so they're happy. We're game for anything so we plunged headfirst into the festivities.

Dream Yosacoy Matsuri Dance festival 

Outside of the main train station in downtown Tokyo they closed off a street and held a dance festival. Teams of dancers performed, some with more than 100 participants. The dancers were energetic, the music was lively and the audience was enthusiastic.

Culture Day Parade

 The Asakusa neighborhood is home of the most venerable Buddhist temple in Tokyo. Many locals visit it on weekends and holidays and it's a must-see for all tourists. On Culture Day they close off the main streets around the temple and have a parade. It becomes quite the mob scene. We came out of the subway right into the middle of the parade route.I've no idea who the people in the parade were, but most were elderly. They reminded me of the Veterans of Foreign Wars trying, in this case, "to keep the culture alive."

I can't think of any reason why this man was sitting in a cauldron, but that's what he was doing.

But there were young people, too. Some reminded me of Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts. Two groups did acrobatics so that enlivened the parade. A young man and a young woman dressed as ninjas did a back flip:

Another group held a long ladder while one of them climbed to the top and performed some balancing acts.

Relaxing on the top of a bamboo ladder

Rakes

After visiting the temple with the crowds, we went in search of a festival called Tori-no-ichi, which means "open-air market." It's held only in November on the days of the Rooster (or Tori) in the Chinese calendar, which comes every 12 days. On those days, people buy rakes for good luck. Yes, rakes, like the ones you use to rake your lawn or perhaps to rake your Zen garden. But they get decorated so much that you pretty much can't tell they are rakes. When someone buys a rake, the people around clap their hands and shout. It's as if everyone hopes the buyer's luck will rub off on them.

The back side of the bamboo rake

The decorated side of the bamboo rake

 

(A link to details about the Tori-no-ichi festival.)

Sometimes, "culture" can be boring, especially if it's your own. But we had a great time sharing the enthusiasm of these Japanese celebrating their culture.

For pictures from Japan and Culture Day click here.