Matsuri!

This weekend was full of festivals and awesome sightseeing around the Noto!

On Friday evening I went to Wajima for their famous Taisai festival. Taisai is a lot of fun, and very exciting well into the night with kurriko teams carrying their huge lanterns up and down the streets while drinking, chanting, and talking to people. The other JETs I was with and myself even got to help carry a kurriko for a little while which was very cool. 

On Saturday we did some excellent sightseeing of different spots around Wajima. First we went to a great little beach spot that features awesome rock formations right on the coast and a little "natural" swimming pool.

Next we went in search of waterfalls. The first one we went to was gorgeous and hidden in the woods. It was really off the beaten path, you must have someone with you that has been there before to be able to find it. While there we climbed the slippery rocks to the top and halfway slid down on our return to ground level. After leaving that gorgeous waterfall we drove on and went to another very pretty and very huge one that was right by the road.  

鵜川祭り

Sashimi

Whale meat

On Saturday evening I returned to my village for our niwaka festival. The other ALT here and myself had invitations to pre-festival dinners so at 5:15 off we went. First, we went to the house of one of our co-workers. We were led into the party room which was a traditional tatami (bamboo mat floor) room that housed the toconama (family shrine) and a long low table where everyone sat to eat, drink, and socialize. Then we went to another house we had an invitation to, from someone who formerly worked at our office. Three of the other guests were university students doing a home-stay visit. There was a German, a Tanzanian, and a Taiwanese person all studying at a university in Tokyo. At each dinner party we attended the hosts and other guests were so welcoming and excited to talk to us and have a great time even though some had never met us before.

After spending some time there we went to the house of an elementary school teacher I work with. At 8:30 we stepped outside to see the fireworks which were awesome. Watching them pop over the lined up niwakas was a sight to see.
Niwakas are two-story tall lanterns that are hand-built every year for the festival, and feature huge ink drawn depictions of samurai. During the festival the niwakas are pushed up and down the streets by teams of people in order to honor the gods. After they started the parade of niwakas, the teacher I know (whose husband is a leader for one of the niwaka teams) rushed back into the house excitedly exclaiming that they started and said "Let's join!" So she ran to the back of her house and came out with two hapi coats that she dressed the other ALT and me in and then led us out to find her husband's team. When we found them she asked permission from an elder to let us join which he granted, so for the next 4 hours we helped the team push the niwaka through the streets of our village. All the while there were children piled on top and riding the niwaka, chanting, and beating the taiko drums as we pushed.

The energy of that festival was magnificent. There were 9 niwakas in the procession and everyone was having a blast! We would push the niwakas sometimes at a walk, sometimes at a flat out run! At one large intersection each niwaka team took turns going to the middle to spin their niwaka as fast as possible!!! It was AWESOME. So much fun and it was so incredible to really feel like I am a part of the community. The exhilaration from the energy of the people around, the sounds of the drums and flutes the kids were playing, and the atmosphere of being part of something great in your own village is indescribable. It is rare and special for foreigners to have this kind of experience in Japan because it would only ever happen in a community small like mine. This festival has truly made me feel glad to be living where I am.

Blessing at the Shinto Shrine

Later on I met a gentleman who has been doing ink drawings for the festival for 45 years. We were discussing different festivals and he told me that ours is special because of the community involvement. Entire families participate, from grandmothers all the way down to the toddlers riding on the niwakas. And he was adamant that everyone puts their whole heart into the festival. After having experienced it, I am sure he is correct. It is so evident that everyone there was completely excited to be partaking with sheer pleasure in the event.