Saijo Matsuri: October 14th - 16th

From October 14^th at midnight to the 16^th late in the evening Saijo celebrated it’s harvest matsuri. Matsuri  まつり in English is festival and though there are other festivals throughout the year, saying the city name + matsuri it seems to identify this specific occasion.

Though I do not live in Saijo a bunch of my friends do so I went to spend the evening there on the 15^th. What I didn’t realize was that the actual celebrations do not get started until midnight or later so I was in for a long evening. It was worth staying up until 5am to the see a lot of the lit up danjiri gathered in the field by the river.

Most festivals at this time of the year are celebrating a good harvest and thanking the kami for granting that. In Saijo the festival consists of making danjiri and parading them through the city before ending up at the river. The danjiri are hand made wood structures that are surrounded by lanterns and carried by 50 person teams. Each team has it’s own name and coloured happi thereby identifying you to everyone. The danjiri are meant to be miniature shrines or temples where kami reside. Making danjiri isn’t exclusive to Saijo, but it was the closest that I would most likely come to seeing one up close.

Another reason that the festival was a lot of fun to go to was because Bret was on a team with a few his Japanese friends and guys that I have hung out with a few times. At one point Angelina and I went to find Bret and his team, we met up with him and Sho and I got a nice picture the their happi. We followed his team into the field and walked behind them as they made their way to the shrine to lift up the danjiri. It’s quite a feat to see because of how heavy it is and the fact that it does tip to the side if the balance is off.

Bret and his team lifting the danjiri

The whole night/early morning was quite fun to be a part of; the sight of all the lanterns on the danjiri, the smells of the food vendors and the sounds of the singing and shouting. It was a fun thing to witness and I am happy to have seen it, as it becomes something more than just watching a festival.

Up next post will be a little bit about the Niihama otokomatsuri 男祭り。The taikodai festival in Niihama.