Last Friday night, I participated in the Hanagasa Dance Festival in Ito, Shizuoka Prefecture. I was taken to a dress shop in the town of Ito and dressed in a beautiful black kimono and then briefly taught the necessary traditional Japanese dance moves I would need for the parade. Many different troops of people made up the parade of dancers who moved through the streets of Ito to the tune of a 25-minute-long traditional Japanese song. After the song, we took a five minute break and then began again. The parade route took a little over one hour to complete so you can imagine I was tired by the end! Enjoy some snaps below...
Selfie of me in a kimono...
Getting ready to start the parade...
Let the dancing begin!
Major props go out to this little old lady spotted dancing away in the parade...
My friends seems deeply confused about the evening's proceedings...
Drummers drumming to their own beat...
Our dance troop was better; we had Japanese ladies with umbrellas!
And pose!
You can follow me on Instagram by searching for the username "AussieOnTheIzu."
お疲れ様です。I bet it was a lot of fun getting all dressed up in a kimono and participating in the event, but looks like a lot of hard work.
ReplyDeleteIt was a LOT of hard work! So buggered by the end of it!
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