The Kawagoe Festival goes on into the evening and features towering floats that are said to do battle with each other through music. The full name of the festival is Kawagoe Hikawa Matsuri due to its connection with Hikawa Shrine, but even Japanese people usually refer to it as the Kawagoe Matsuri.
The floats used are distinct from the mikoshi (shrines carried by local people during festivals) used elsewhere as these are about the same height as the Edo-era houses that line the streets. However, the real difference is that each contains a small stage with musicians and often a masked dancer. The top half of the float revolves so that the performers can direct their music towards people on either side of the street and at other floats.
When two floats attempt to pass each other (a difficult feat at any time), the stages turn to face each other and what might be termed a ‘battle of the bands’ ensues. In Japanese, the act of rotating the stage to perform is referred to as hikkawase (曳っかわせ) which is a local word used only in reference to this festival. They perform facing each other until one float gives up and moves on, widely interpreted to indicate which group has failed and which group has won. Apparently, this isn’t really the case and it’s simply a matter of deciding when to move along, but I say that if they develop a fighting toy based on this concept and make an anime out of it, they’ll have a hit on their hands.
To get a better idea of how the rotating stage works, check out the two videos below.
The musicians play the shinobue (bamboo flute), the shimedaiko (type of drum), the oodaiko (bigger type of drum) and the surigane (metal dish and hammer). There are many types of dancers, including characters based on Hyottoko and Okame; the former has his lips permanently pursed because he breathes fires through a bamboo pipe, while the latter is female and has round cheeks. However, the ones that really caught my eye were the foxes. Foxes are awesome and if you were expecting some deep insights into Japanese traditions, you’re best off reading a different blog.
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More photographs of the floats at night below.
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This is a great festival to attend. The atmosphere is fantastic and the location is spread out, so there are plenty of food stalls (Tornado potato, agemonja and doner kebabs are growing in popularity, plus old favourites). Kawagoe, nicknamed ‘Little Edo’, is also a good town to visit in its own right. It’s on the Saikyo line, about 50 minutes from Shinjuku.
Click on any of the photos to go to the Flickr page
