Gamagori Matsuri

英語だけ、すみません。　多分後で翻訳する。

Sometimes you think the day will be boring but you get surprised. Well this was one of those days. I didn't expect I'd be turning down sake and beer in the middle of the afternoon in order to keep from getting too drunk. Nor have I ever entered an onsen while drunk before. Nor until now had I realized that Japanese people can't speak Japanese well when they are drunk...

I started the day expecting to have a quiet day. A bit of studying, do some laundry, etc. After lunch, I headed to Gamagori, a place I had been to a few times before. My plan was to walk around, visit Takeshima (the island in the picture), and then soak in the local onsen.

When I arrived in Gamagori, I was surprised to hear a lot of music and see people dancing. On closer inspection, it was a matsuri. Seems like it had started much earlier in the day, as there were many drunk men around. I started checking it out and bumped into Patrick, a German student from my school.

We wandered together some, and before long were offered a beer. And then another, And then some sake in a cup. Then more beer. And more sake. And before long, we were doing our best to stop them. Had a few shots of sake right from the 1.8 liter bottles they were serving from. And many cups worth. Lots of chatting with people, but it seems to be hard to understand people when they get drunk (and probably my getting drunk had something to do with it also). Alcohol was definitely a big part of this event. One cart had a smaller cart that followed it carrying a cooler (presumably full of booze). Another cart had a keg built right into the float.

During this time, there were lots of drunk people trying to dance and play drums and flutes. And people shooting off fireworks. Some of the dancing and music was good, and some was powered by a little too much sake (and the guy in the picture with the red staff - if you look closely you can tell that the staff is in an interesting shape...). Most of the people were wearing happi coats to show their affiliation with some group or another (each group had their own cart). Here's a 2mb QuickTime Video clip of some music making.

There was also a group of 20 or so men running around in white loin clothes, white clothes wrapped around their stomachs, white socks, and slippers (and nothing else). They were getting more drunk than the others. Turns out they were all 42 years old, which is a special year, as one way of saying 4 and 2 is "shi ni", which could also mean "die". So they were trying to get special blessing to help them survive the year (or at least have one last big party). At one point, hey carried a float (maybe a portable shrine?) with one guy riding on the top to a local shrine, where I think the blessing occured. Here's a 9mb QuickTime Video clip of these guys as they headed to the shrine - note the guy running around and getting people to take slugs of the sake....

The matsuri ended with the 42 year olds going on a stage and throwing sweets to the crowd. I got my share.

After that, Patrick headed home and I went to the onsen. I could feel my heart beating more than normal - perhaps getting in hot water while buzzed is not the best thing to do. But if felt good to soak for a bit, even though I am not all that relaxed right now, as bumping into the matsuri was such a pleasant surprise that I am still a bit psyched out. Definitely was a fun day. Much better than I expected. Probably a more enjoyable matsuri than the one I went to yesterday...