Gion Matsuri and Ninjas

On crowds, heat and Asian tug o'war
On the seventeenth it was finally time for Gion Matsuri and the festive parade which marks the peak of the ritual cleansing of the city. It's a popular parade, everybody told us so, and for good reasons, given the time and effort put into every one of the many, many floats being pulled through the city's streets by rows and rows of men towing heavy ropes between them.

It is a very beautiful thing and, despite the popularity, a very local thing as well; it's something the city has been anticipating since the start of the month and we all revelled in the completion.
I don't know much about the details surrounding the people in the floats, but I know that a rich family paid to have their five-year old son ride in the front-float, dressed up in finery and enacting the part of 'blessed child'.

The poor kid must have been swelteringly hot in all that silk and make-up, but he had people fan him while he sat in the float among them. There must have been at least twenty people visible on the big floats - and there were more inside!

It's a fact that we were all sweaty and fanning ourselves madly as we pressed together in one big moving mass, trying to get the best angle to look from or take pictures from.
It was a very intense experience and one that had me thinking of the traditional ideas of Asian mysticism for the first time in this otherwise urban landscape, rituals like those you expect to find on Bali or in rural China.

It was a calm parade, with only the eerie sound of drumbeats and shrill flutes to accompany it, but standing in that mass of people under the beating sun, with humans who cheered when they saw the 'blessed child' and drew in a collective gasp as the first float was tugged forward, it did feel like something ritualistic and esoteric in nature.

After that we found shade and, for my part iced coffee, for a bit and then went shopping in the narrow streets nearby. I found myself a cheap kiseru, probably not real or usable, but looking the part and I lamented the fact that I saw so many katanas, but can't bring any of them home with me:(


On ninjas, train-rails and natural beauty
On the 20th we went to Iga, or more precisely Ueno Castle, an area which is famous for its former ninja-population and a castle of magnificent beauty.
The ride there was long, two hours by various different trains, but it was endlessly fascinating, especially since the trains got more and more outrageous the further out we got, until on our last stretch, we travelled in a green wagon with teddy-bears on the side, painted with cute expressions, frozen in eternal glee.
The floors inside were covered in a film resembling cobbled stone, so it would seem like you stepped unto a cobbled pathway as you got out.

It was hot as all hell once we got to Ueno, but the stretch to the castle-park was short and soon we were distracted by regretfully touristy shops and museums.
I was a bit sad to see how dull it all looked, but interested in the fact that it all felt so provincial and cosy, despite their best efforts to make it appealing to tourists interested solely in ninjas.
Their, the ninjas, history is interesting though and the museums had notes on their diet and training, what they wore and their weapons, which was interesting enough.

this thing in particular intrigued me, a tree illustrating the different modes of stealth and protection in Japanese warfare. The name Abe (no) Seimei on there made me particularly happy to see, since he is a legendary onmyoji and of interest to me because of that. 

 

 

The castle was, in my opinion, just as interesting though.
Before we got to it however, we saw this house, oddly shaped and mushroom-like, we agreed that it belongs in Super Mario more than anywhere elseXD

Ueno castle on the inside is not terribly impressive, but from the outside, perched on a high hill-top, surrounded by a deep moot, it makes an incredible picture, almost reminding me of sceneries from old Disney-movies.

It was a beautiful trip, but it was long and we were all exhausted when we came back home that day.

Today has been lazy and rainy, but Ida and I went to a flea-market at Toji, bought CDs and foodstuffs and then went back home to relax again:) 

For the next couple of days we will relax and then perhaps it is time to see the imperial palace and Abe no Seimei's shrine<3

~A~