About a month ago, I blogged about my visit to Inuyama (The Secret of Monkey Island). Well, recently I went back to see the Inuyama Spring Festival.
One of the oldest festivals in Japan, it first took place in 1635 as a festival of the Haritsuna shrine and quickly became an annual event. Held on the first weekend in April, it sees thirteen three-tiered floats, each twenty-five feet high, parade around the city accompanied by the sounds of flutes and drums. At night, each float is lit up by 365 lanterns. Combine this with the fact that the festival usually coincides with the height of the cherry blossom season and you have a truly amazing sight.
People come from miles around to attend the festival. Roads are closed to traffic and there is a real party atmosphere as people follow the parade. Live music is played and food stalls line both sides of the street, selling squid, takoyaki, chocolate bananas, okonomiyaki, toffee apples, fried chicken, taiyaki, cucumber on a stick... the list goes on and on. Oh, and there's beer too for those who are interested in such things.
Enjoy the pictures...
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