Summer festivals occur in every Japanese town. If one plans carefully, a summer festival can be viewed every weekend. Festivals usually transpire over 3-4 days. Groups of dancers, taiko drummers, mikoshi, and dashi stroll through the town’s main street. Local neighborhoods decorate dashi (a festival float with wheels) with flowers, dolls and traditional Japanese icons. Most parades have a theme that must be incorporated into the float design, which they are judged. During the parade, men, women, and children pull these heavy floats for spectators to view.
Labor Day weekend customarily marks the end of summer. So it seemed fitting that we too we attended our last summer festival in Gonohe City. We wouldn’t have known about it; however, the city office invited those from Kyle’s command who hosted exchange English students to attend the celebration. It appeared that this year’s theme centered around Hayao Miyazaki, because I could see different characters (cat from Kiki’s Delivery Service, black spots from Spirited Away, Ponyo, and Totoro, etc.) conspicuously mounted onto each float. Most summer festival floats resemble Hachinohe’s Sansha Tasai festival, but on smaller scale, but not less grandiose.
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