Nagoya Matsuri

Taisho Represent!

Sunday, October 13th found Paul, Aya, P and me on Otsu-dori in Sakae for the 54th Annual Nagoya Festival. If you ask me "What festival?" I will tell you "Nagoya Festival." For that is all it's called. Nagoya Matsuri.

Anger Management

And just what is Nagoya Matsuri? Well, in addition to the various events going on around the city, there is a huge parade whose main attraction is the three 16th-century feudal lords: Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu. This part of the parade includes the procession of the lords and their entourages as well as a battle reenactment complete with smoke and gunshots.

Fukurokujusha
1676

The first section of the parade, the Dashizoroe, was a showcase of 9 of Nagoya's dashi (floats) carrying animated dolls.

Aya and I at the frontlines.

Aya, Paul and Lil P

Yutoriguruma 1658

The parade included a lot of period and traditional costumes and festival-wear.

Playing on the vent

While waiting their turn, some kids feel the rush of air from a vent in the middle of the avenue. They let it blow in their face, and let leaves loose over it to watch them float up to the sky.

Flute

On the back of each dashi were a couple flute players, women of course. And some tired kids.

Tired and Bored

The floats congregated three at a time to circle around the intersection a few hundred yards from where we were watching, leaving some participants to stand around and wait their turn. Since we were near the end of the parade route, by the time they got to us, many of the participants were physically tired and tired of standing around.

Another casualty of the long, slow parade.

Ponyo

The kids' parade included community groups and their kid-oriented floats. Obvious participants: Ponyo, Doraemon, Naruto and Stitch.

Reason #146 of Why I Love Japan:
Boys feeling cool in pastel grass skirts.

After the kids' parade came the marching bands complete with baton twirlers and kids on giant unicycles - members of Nagoya Unicyclists.

West Coast in the house

And the International Factor.

I don't know what these girls were princesses of, but they were representing LA.

And Mexico.

Of course there were people dressed as samurai, samurai's ladies and ninjas posing for the cameras.

I think the look on the face of the girl on the right sums up this float.

And then came the historical figures and reenactments.

Shachi-bayashi

After about 4 hours of standing on the same curb, sandwiched between two obaachan's who were stealthily encroaching more and more on my footspace, I gave up and gave the all-clear for cutting out.

Later that evening, I met Lil P outside his otaku venue, and we went to the mall by Nagoya Dome in Ozone (Oh! - zone.) for dinner, which required access via Nagoya Dome Yada Mae... (Iya da!) or whatever that station is called. The exit is a hall of fame for the Chunichi Dragons, whose mascot is a blue koala named Doala. As per the biographical info on the wall, his nickname is "Koala." A bit of a stretch, I know. But so is having a koala as the mascot for a team called the Dragons. Although, Michael had to point that out to me. Having been here so long, I didn't even question it.

Doala in some of his many strange and often inappropriate poses.
It's anyone's guess as to why he has a blue tennis ball for a tail.

The mall, with it's American-style layout, was a refreshing change from Nakatsu's Apita. Also refreshing was having SUBWAY sandwiches!!! And seeing a sheep in the pet store. And an owl. And some white squirrels.

Fly away free, my little blue friend.