Thursday, October 15, 2009

Random Pictures

Persimmon is my new favorite fruit. In Japanese it is called kaki.
The heart stone at Glover Garden. It is supposed to bring you happiness if you find it.
Temple
Chinese Temple

The heart stone by the river.
The first time I made tamago yaki all by myself.
My tea ceremony set case.
My tea ceremony set.

Teaching my host family how to make a burrito!

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Takengei

This is part of the Wakamiya Inari jinji.
(The shrine where the bamboo festival was held.)

This is the mochi that I caught. The red and white represent happiness.
These are the three sticks of bamboo they were performing on.

The two year old climbing the first stick of bamboo.
Last night I went to a bamboo festival. The festivals name is Takengei. At the festival there were three long sticks of bamboo. The first person to climb up one of the sticks of bamboo was a two year old followed by a forth grader! The next person to climb up was an adult and he hung on the bamboo and did crazy things on them like hanging upside down. Then another person came up and they did a duo act. This time they used two pieces of bamboo. It is hard to explain so I put some pictures up for you to see. The performers were wearing fox costumes. Once at the top of the bamboo sticks they threw mochi (rice cakes) out into the crowd. The last performer threw a live chicken out into the crowd! I caught some mochi and when I got home from the festival I ate it. Out of all the foods that I have eaten in Japan mochi has come to be my favorite!

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Nagasaki Kunchi

Some of the gifts that were displayed on the Saturday night before the festival.
One of the kasabokos.
(Dragon Dance)
The Ship of the Seven Gods of Fortune being turned.
(Seven Gods of Fortune)
(Lion Dance)
(Tounsen-matsuri)
Hon-odori the dance of Uwa-machi.
Montakoi Montakoi!
(Encore)

(Kawafune)
Last week was the Kunchi festival. It is Nagasaki's biggest festival and it only takes place in Nagasaki. The towns in Nagasaki alternate hosting the festival every seven years. The performances they give are an offering to the deity of the Suwa Shrine. The town that is in charge of the festival start practicing and organizing in June. The festivities started the Saturday before. For three hours people could walk around the shops and see the presents that were going to be given to the performers and organizers and they could see the costumes. On Wednesday early in the morning the people organizing got up uand decided at three in the morning if they were going to hold the event that day. If it was raining the festival would just be extended. On Wednesday they did decide to hold the event and everyone knew because the sound of the fireworks going off at five in the morning. On Wednesday morning I got up and watched the first performance at the Suwa Shrine with my host family. Even though it was early in the morning everyone was so excited and energetic. Each day the performers had multiple performances until late at night. As I sat and watched my host parents went through all the acts for me and told me about them. My host mom also pulled out a couple of photo albums that contained photos of when their town was hosting the festival. On Wednesday night I saw the performance live with the other two Rotary exchange students. The first act was Hon-odori dance of Uwa -machi which was a traditional Japanese dance. It was also the first dance to be offered up to the Suwa Shrine. The next act was Kawafune which means river boat. A boy cast a net to catch some fish on a boat. Inside the boat were 12 children playing drums. After the boy catches the fish 16 people pull and turned the boat around. It is supposed to show how the boat goes in the waves. The third act was Tounsen-matsuri. Children played their instruments on a ship which looks like a ship from the Chinese dynasty Tang. The sixteen men dragged the boat around and turned it to the rhythm of the music. The forth act was the lion dance. The fifth act was Shichi-fuku-jin. They are the seven gods of fortune. The band and the gods rode in on the biggest ship and on the flag on the top the kanji said treasure. The gods did a dance and then the men once again turned the boat multiple times. The last act was Ja-odori which is the dragon dance. Ten men moved the dragon while one held a gold ball which represented the moon or the sun. The dragon danced while following the golden ball. This year there were three dragons dancing which is unusual many people told me. While the dragon was dancing there were people playing the trumpet, a gong, and a drum. In between the performances there was a dance of the kasaboko. Each town has their own kasaboko. On the kasaboko it has the towns name, decorations representing the town, and cloth draped on the sides of it. Every kasaboko is really heavy and there was only one person underneath carrying it. Since the people underneath couldn't see another person had to guide the others underneath with a flag. The festival lasted until Friday. On the last day my host family took me to where some of the acts were walking around such as the boats being carried and the children playing their instruments and then occasionally they stopped and did their performance. The seven gods of fortune came around to each store and blessed it. It was so cool to see their costumes up close. I couldn't believe how extravagant the festival was and can't wait to attend more festivals. The people of Nagasaki love festivals.

Friday, October 2, 2009

My Birthday

Me in my new boots at the Russian restaurant.
(In the background is my host grandmother.)
My birthday did not really feel like it was my birthday. When I got to school many of my classmates wished me a happy birthday and one of them gave me a little present which was some chocolate. At lunch my classmates sang happy birthday to me. The day ended with my host family taking me out for Russian food. It was very interesting. I had bread, borscht, buckwheat porridge, mushroom salad, Russian tea with jelly in it, and pasta with peppers and garlic. It was very delicious. Then for dessert I did not have cake and instead I had a dark cherry tart which was still really good. However I did not get to blow out any candles! My host grandmother gave me some money to buy myself a present and my host parents bought me some boots. They were both wonderful presents!