Golden Week has come and gone (and gone), underscored by the incessant rain dismally signaling a return to work after seven blissful days of vacation. This is the exact same thing I said last year, except with perhaps a little less rain. Golden Week is a springtime blessing, a weeklong national holiday (more accurately, several individual holidays in series) that’s even better in Hamamatsu owing to the three-day revelry known as the Hamamatsu Matsuri (festival). Last year we had a lot of fun as spectators, but this year passively watching wasn’t enough; we participated.
A brief overview of Hamamatsu Matsuri
My mom and aunt came to visit for a couple weeks in April, missing the festival by a mere week. In lieu of matsuri lovin’ I took them to the Hamamatsu Festival Pavilion for a “virtual festival experience”, meaning all the trappings but none of the people. Kind of like a less ‘genki’ (but quite informative) rendition of the festival proceedings. We watched an old man spin kite rope out of hemp (kzi and I made bracelets from the entrails last year), scoped a nice sampling of kites and happi (the neighborhood specific festival jackets), and checked out a couple yatai (floats). Originally the yatai was a simple vehicle for transporting kites to and from the field where the battles take place, but over the years they became more ornate until they became a separate celebration entirely (I’m sure motorized vehicles had something to do with this as well). As it stands now, the kites are flown during the day, and the yatai paraded around at night with happi-clad members of the neighborhood in tow hoisting lanterns and shouting ‘‘yoishoi!’ to the tunes of festival buglers.
Hamamatsu Daisuki has a good, if somewhat grammatically curious, summary of the festival:
Hamamatsu Festival, held at the beginning May each year, is well-known for Takoage Gassen, or the kite fight, and luxuriously decorated palace-like floats. The festival originated about 430 years ago, when the lord of Hamamatsu Castle celebrated the birth of his first son by flying kites. In the Meiji Era, the celebration of the birth of a first son by flying Hatsu Dako, or the first kite, became popular, and this tradition has survived in the form of Hamamatsu Festival. It is extremely exciting to see over 160 large kites flying in the sky to the sound of trumpets. Those who visit Hamamatsu at this time of the year can experience the city at its most exciting time.
kzi and I live in Owari-cho, a small and conservative neighborhood close to downtown Hamamatsu. We had originally planned on joining Owari-cho for the festival, but they didn’t seem too keen on gaijin in their midst, so we ended up in Itaiya-machi, a large and friendly neighborhood in the heart of Hamamtsu. Curiously enough, it turns out that Itaiya-machi was the same friendly neighborhood that briefly lent us happi last year, and enouraged our peripheral participation. Even more curiously, they recognized kzi and I a year later and were thrilled to see us again, so it looks like Itaiya-machi will be our de facto matsuri neighborhood from here on out.
The Daytime
On May 3rd we donned our happi and headed out to the kite field to soak up the sun and drink some beer. The few hours we spent at the Nakatajima Dunes was pretty uneventful, but I do have some pictures from the outing.
kzi attempts to swallow my head while proudly sporting an Itaiyamachi happi.
The first day of the kite festival is slightly lackluster. If I understand correctly, the first day is when families with newborn children fly the kites, rendering the field somewhat docile; more like a family-outing in the park rather than a high-energy battlefield. Last year we went on the third day, which was decidedly more rambunctious and loud.
From left to right: Ian, Ai, kzi, pnts, noodles. I just couldn’t let go of those noodles…
Festival food is delicious… I highly recommend takoyaki, aka fried octopus balls. I mean, balls of fried octopus. On a warm, sunny day, nothing can top takoyaki with a side of beer.
The full matsuri crew, from left to right: pnts, kzi, Tomo, Ai, Ian.
Many sides of beer…
On our way home: pnts, Auz, Ai, Tomo, Ian.
After a couple hours watching kites, we were ready to head home and prepare for the evening festivities. And by prepare I mean dork-out over Vampire and take naps.
The Evening
Our evening began as the yatai parade ended, lanterns in hand and disposable cameras in tow. The post-yatai neri - a noisy, chanting parade of people hoisting lanterns and jumping around excitedly - is the most popular part of the matsuri, owing to the copious amounts of food, beverages, and beverages. Neri is neighborhood specific, designed to encourage energetic community oriented celebrations. Numerous circuits are taken about the neighborhood, interspersed with the most spirited drinking I have ever encountered (the college I went to didn’t have fraternities, so I never witnessed the kegger scene).
After the first round of neri, the festival participants sit on the ground in groups in front of the house of a newborn child, or in the case of bigger neighborhoods such as Itaiya-machi, in front of the festival house. Plastic cartons filled with large bottles of beer, chu-hi, and shouchu circulate through the crowd; you are free to grab as much as you want of this seemingly never-ending alcohol supply. Platters of food also begin to circulate, and once everyone is properly supplied, the drinking begins. The Japanese ability to drink large amounts of alcohol in a very short amount of time is usurped only by their innate ability to instantaneously fall into deep slumber on a train and wake up seconds before their stop without any external cues. With 15 bottles of beer, 10 cups of shouchu, and an assortment of chu-hi in the middle of our circle, the chanting of ‘yoishoi’ resumed and the pounding of alcohol began. We were, after all, on a time schedule. A large make-shift stage in front of the revelers was filled with the neighborhood leaders and a large drum of sake, each one drinking box after box after box of sake, and I even saw one guy chugging a bottle of Dom Perignon! After about 45 minutes we took another circuit around the neighborhood, dancing and chanting with alcohol-fueled exuberance. To listen to a somewhat flat and tinny rendition of the neri, please check out this Matsuri Neri mp3.
Rinse and Repeat
Our second circuit was followed with another round of power-drinking and eating, which in turn was followed by, of course, another neri. The celebrations ended around midnight and everyone stumbled home for some rest before the next day of kite battles, parades, and extreme drinking.
For more pictures of the kites and parades, check out my impressions from last year’s matsuri.
I have two rolls of film documenting the evening activities that need to be developed and scanned, but that is for another rainy day. Until then, please enjoy a keitai picture of Ian, filled with the matsuri spirit…
Too much neri: Ian manifests the post-neri glow.
great update, darlin!
i gotta catch you some time soon.
Thanks!
Indeed you do, it’s been a while.