A couple months ago, Mari and I moved into a new (old) house near Shugakuin Rikyu, about 15 minutes on foot from our old place. Among our new neighbors is our multi-talented friend Kitaoka-san — architect, photographer, lotus expert and aficionado of local festivals. Last week he invited me to volunteer with him in the Saginomori-jinja matsuri, the festival for the Shinto shrine down the street.
After battling my insecurities about not understanding exactly what I would be doing — and a mix-up in which I was given size XL shorts instead of size M — I joined Kitaoka-san and about 80 other neighborhood guys for an evening of heavy lifting, yelling and free sake. Photos by Mari.
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Note: I worked hard, but didn’t include a photo of me carrying the mikoshi because my expresssion didn’t look painful enough.
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4 responses to “saginomori-jinja matsuri”
These photos and the presentation are brilliant! They leave me greedy for more!
(I wish I could’ve been there–did You say “free” sake?) 🙂
Soory I couldn’t make it. I didn’t want to do picture 5 if I couldnt be there in time to fortify myself a la picture 3. Anyway, I ended up getting a bad cold as retribution from kami-sama for not clearing my schedule. Looks like you had fun.
Thanks, Azim! I’m trying to get Mari to take more pictures. Credit to Airtight Interactive for their free “AutoViewer” Flash template.
Yes, free sake, beer, onigiri, senbei, boiled eggs, tamagoyaki…
And I’m sorry I only gave you a couple days’ notice, Nils.
Anyway, I think you were lucky to be busy that day. You would have been one of the guys who had to carry more of the weight to make up for the scrawny men like me.
It was fun. As for doing it again next year, though…. I’ll have to think about it.
Get well!