Summer Matsuri, 鴻巣

It's festival time here in Japan! All over the country at this time of year every town and city holds a traditional festival, and this weekend was the matsuri in my town, Konosu.



The main celebrations centred around a procession along 旧中山道, the main street in Konosu, of several groups of people, one group from each ward, carrying portable shrines called mikoshi. I invited a couple of other teachers Greg (l) and Mick (r) to take part in carrying the mikoshi for my area 入形町. It was pretty hard work, it was a hot day and the mikoshi was very, very heavy! But it was good fun, everyone was in high spirits and it was a good experience to be able to take part in something so Japanese!