Misu Jinja Matsuri – Shishi and O mikoshi

The culmination of the fall matsuri season here in Fushimi is the Misu Jinja matsuri in my neighborhood. It is quite an event. It starts with a gigantic torch that is lit on fire and carried along Takeda Kaido. It ends with the shishi in the morning and o mikoshi in the afternoon and evening. I wasn’t even planning on joining the matsuri this year, but…Once the time came around, I just couldn’t pass up the chance to participate. We started at 6:30 am and ended at 9:30 pm. It turned out to be quite an experience!

Getting ready for the day's festivities

This is the chochin for our neighborhood.

Can you tell the difference between the male and female shishi?

Finally, a water break!

Riding atop the shishi! Hiyo silver, away!

The o mikoshi is really pretty. But it's really heavy!

K and J in front of the shishi

Putting the shishi to bed for another year. See you next year!

It was a long day, but very satisfying. I’m looking forward to it again next year.

Fushimi at Night

One of the best ways to enjoy Kyoto is exploring at night. Kyoto dons a different mask at night. All of Kyoto’s charms come out to play at night. One of the first things that catches your eye are the paper lanterns called “chochin”. It’s festival time here in Fushimi, so the lanterns have come out. I think they make for great picture-taking chances. There’s nothing more charming than to see a chochin at night in front of a traditional Japanese house. It’s one of my favorite images of the Japan I call home.

Chochin at Gokonomiya Shrine

Sakagura at night

Kizakura's sakagura at night

Walking Fushimi's streets at night

Chochin at night

I was walking around at night and found these chochin. I thought they deserved a few photos!

Can you read the katakana??

Do you like oden?

Chochin and machiya

More chochin

The next time you’re in Kyoto, take a stroll at night.

Fall Festival in Fushimi

There’s nothing like a festival to bring some fun into everybody’s lives. It brings people together and let’s them forget for awhile about everything else and focus on just having some fun! Here are some pictures from our local festival here in Fushimi. This festival is associated with the Gokonomiya Shrine. The “hana gasa” are what make this festival really exciting and fun to watch.

A typical "Hana gasa" in Fushimi

A small "omikoshi" in Fushimi

After carrying the “omikoshi” on your shoulders and/or back of your neck, some guys actually get a bump on the back of their neck that stays with them forever?!?

Ume and Umeboshi

I have said before that the rainy season (June) is by far my favorite time to be in Japan. One of the major reasons is the Japanese plum or ume. I was in Kameoka the other day and managed to bring back a couple kilos of freshly picked ume.

These are great because they aren’t perfect like the ones you find being sold in grocery stores. These are natural ume which were picked at a temple in Kameoka which we found thanks to some friends of ours. They are all different sizes and shapes. Some even have small imperfections if you can believe it!? What can you do with them? There are several things you can make with ume, but the most traditional is to make umeboshi. I decided to make umeboshi with these ume. I’ll keep you updated on their progress….

Rainy Season

Vibrant purple hydrangeas

June means the start of the rainy season in Japan. It is also my favorite time to be in Japan. Everything is so lush and and green. June also means the hydrangeas are in full bloom. I decided to talk a walk the other morning and took these pictures in my neighborhood.

Looking at the canal from a bridge

White hydreangeas

Purple hydrangeas

Walking along the canal

Purple hydrangeas

Hydrangeas

Looking up at hydrangeas

Pink hydrangeas

Hydrangeas along the canal

White hydrangeas

Miyako Odori

Of the many things to see and do here in my adopted home of Kyoto,  the Miyako Odori ranks high up on the list as a must-see event. I went to the 138th presentation of the dance today and as always, I wasn’t disappointed. The annual spring dance runs the full month of April with 4 performances daily. For an extra 500 yen, you can get the “Chaseki” which I highly recommend. The dance tells a story amidst the background of the four seasons. I did manage to take a few pictures.

Walking through Gion to the Kaburenjo

This year's poster

Entrance to the Kaburenjo Theater

Shidare zakura in full bloom

Maiko san performing the tea ceremony

Chaseki

The stage before the show

Inside of the Kaburenjo Theater

Fushimi Sake Festival

On March 20th, here in Fushimi, we had our 4th annual sake festival. There were two venues for tasting: 1. Gokonomiya Shrine 2. Yume Hyakushu and 5 different kura participated in the event: Masuda Tokubee Shouten, Fujioka Shuzo, Kitagawa Honke, Matsumoto Shuzo, Saito Shuzo. For 1,000, you could taste about 17 different sakes at each venue. It turned out to be a great day.  Here are some pictures from the event…

Entrance to the tasting venue at Gokonomiya Shrine in Fushimi

One of the sakes we tasted

"How are you?" Tsuki no Katsura

Junmai Daigingo - Furi Sode - Mukaijima Shuzo

Tasting at Masuda Tokubee Shouten

Junmai Daiginjo - Heian Kyo - Tsuki no Katsura

Tsuki no Katsura's beautifully re-built house in the Miya style

Looking down from the 2nd floor

What is a sugi-dama?

A picture of a sugi-dama taken outside the local sake brewery in my neighborhood

A sugi-dama is a bunch of cedar boughs that have been tied together and clipped into a nice, round ball.  It is hung outside of the sake brewery once the sake is ready. Think of it as an “open for business” sign.

Gekkeikan Okura Kinen Kan

Fushimi Yume Koubo

Shinsei

Kizakura