Iruma is a town on the western outskirts of Tokyo, home to an air force base. Iruma’s festival (matsuri) takes place along a half mile stretch of town road between a 7-Eleven combi and the Atago shrine. Chie (chee-eh) and her sister picked us up from our hotel and we met Chie’s taiko group at the 7-Eleven end. The street was already blocked off and lined with vendor booths, mostly food stalls. The 7-Eleven itself seemed to be a popular hangout spot for teenagers.
This Miyake taiko club was associated with the elder Tsumura brother, who was there along with maybe 30 or so players. People were donning their outfits and getting the drums ready. It was about noon and things were getting going at the festival.
The floats (yatai), three pairs of them, started parading up and down the street. This one had a shishi!. The drum (taiko), flute (fue) and bell (kane) players and dancers rotated duties over the day. I saw all ages playing, ten year old kids to seniors.
The dancers were masked. This one is … ?
No Japanese festival would be complete without Men (mostly) Doing Dangerous Things. At some festivals they hoist the floats on their shoulders and joust with each other, or at one they run tall yatai around a corner fast so they tip over half the time, sending riders flying. Here the feats of bravery happened on a tall hand made ladder.
The Miyake group first played in front of the 7-Eleven and then hoisted the drums on their shoulders and went off down the street. I followed, but I was hungry and got distracted by the food. First I got squid on a stick, but then I also got a griddle bread with meat inside. Oh look, little donuts! Okonomiyake! Not just fish sticks, but BBQ whole fish on a stick! Choco bananas!
Nom nom nom. Hold it, what’s that noise far away? Ack! It’s Michele playing and I’m missing it! I hustled through the crowd and caught up with the drummers as they were packing up and heading to their next stop, the shrine.
They played in front of the shrine, and then were invited to go inside for a blessing.
Those branches on top of the banner poles are from the sakaki tree, which is a sacred tree used in Shinto rituals. Michele reports that inside the shrine the westerners (she, an Italian exchange student and an Englishman) were seated in the front. The priest made speeches, music was played, the congregation bowed at times and a sakaki leaf was offered to Michele and then she turned the leaf around and offered it back. It was all in Japanese and Chie was whispering to Michele what to do when.
After that Michele held the lantern for a bit and also sang some. Here’s a longish clip from their next session back down in the festival.
We ended up back at the 7-Eleven end. It was a hard four hours of playing for Michele. I kept her supplied with water between sets but she skipped lunch. By the end of the afternoon everyone was ready to grab a bite and watch the yatai floats.
After they changed clothes we all hustled through the crowd, past the floats, to the shrine end of the street. On the way there was an empty lot at about the mid point where a couple of groups of young men were gathered, two groups in matching black shirts, another group in white. I asked Chie what’s up, and she just shook her head and said quietly “bad boys”. There were at least a dozen police on duty at the festival, mostly making way for the yatai or sitting at a command post during the day. Now at dusk I didn’t see them around the floats. Maybe they were keeping an eye on the toughs.
Chie positioned us right in front of the torī gate on the street, which is where the yatai were headed. As evening came on the six floats gathered at the shrine end of the street and turned to face the torī and pay their respects to the Shinto gods.
Each pair of floats played music and performed. It was a wild scene, with team members waving fans while the musicians played. Here’s the pair of floats that were in front of us performing Shishi and a fox.
After the music there was some speeches giving thanks. It was all very memorable, right up until a local politician stepped up and started giving a speech. Chie gave us a nod and we ducked out, tired and happy.
Ken Chin-Purcell 