This weekend is the autumn festival of our local shrine: Yasaka Jinja.

At around 2 p.m. the danjiri (festival float) passed in front of our house.

See if you can spot me and the dogs walking in the parade. I think we blended in well!

 

 

 

 

Right now I can hear the sounds of the danjiri arriving back at the shrine, behind our house. The tour of the neighbourhood lasted 2 hours. They will do it again this evening after sunset, and a third time tomorrow.

Today I was able to see inside the honden of our local shrine for the first time ever. Usually it’s all closed up.

Inside, you can see some offerings of alcohol and fruit.

This morning, before the festival started, I went around to the shrine and found the danjiri still in storage in the garage where it stays for most of the year.

The frames around the shrine were hung with white paper lanterns.

 

Of course, the autumn festival is a harvest festival: this is the time of year when the rice is harvested. These people are working in a rice field, hanging out sheaves of rice to dry, as the parade passes by.