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Shinoburen – Shimokitazawa
At the annual Awaodori festival in Shimokitazawa the Shinoburen (しのぶ連 or 忍連) did a great performance as usual. For some reason I always end up with pretty decent shots of this group’s performance. They...
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More Shinoburen – Shimokitazawa Awaodori
More pictures of the wonderful Shinoburen (しのぶ連 or 忍連) at last months Shimokitazawa Awaodori festival in Tokyo’s Setagaya ward. Can’t get enough of this group and their superbly timed dancing. They...
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Boroichi – Setagaya
Back in 1578, the same year the very first Thanksgiving was celebrated in North America, another tradition started in the small village of Setagaya, in what is today central Tokyo. The warlord and...
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Kyoudou Murasakiren – Shimokitazawa Awaodori
Winter is tough for us Awaodori lovers, there’s not a festival in sight, no drums to be heard, no cries of “Yatto yatto!” to announce the arrival of the Awaodori dancers. Here’s a team that I caught...
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Kyodo Awaodori Festival – Edokkoren
Last weekend was packed with events, exhibitions, festival, dances and music all over Japan and certainly all over Tokyo! I spent Saturday making sure I got the most the Awaodori festival in Tokyo’s...
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The Smiling Tenshoren – Kyodo Awaodori
Being the Awaodori idiot I am I can’t really stop blogging about the subject! At last weekends Awaodori festival in Tokyo’s Setagaya ward, in Kyodo, I saw this great team, the Tenshoren (天翔連). Kyodo is...
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Shimokitazawa Awaodori – Shinoburen
This weekend we saw some of the highest temperatures we have seen in Tokyo for many years. At least I can’t remember any weekend that has been hotter than this. Other parts of Japan were hotter!...
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Awaodori Rock Stars – Shinoburen
I don’t know about your country, but just sometimes even amateur folk dance troupes get the rock star treatment! It happened at the end of the Awaodori festival in Tokyo’s Shimokitzawa district last...
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1700th Post – Kitazawa Hachiman Shrine
It’s that time of the year – festivals everywhere! So many in fact that I would need a couple of dozens of clones to have a chance at covering them all. Yesterday I visited the Kitazawa Hachiman Jinja...
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Kitazawa Hachiman Shrine Kagura Dance
I spent the weekend at the Kitazawa Hachiman Shrine in Tokyo’s Shimokitzawa, one of the main attractions for me was the three performances of traditional Kagura, or Noh theatre. A young warrior and...
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Shimokitazawa Toy Store
Saturday night in Tokyo’s Shimokitazwa district and I take a turn down a street I haven’t been down before and come across this amazingly rag tag deadstock toy store! The cheaper stuff was in boxes and...
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Omikoshi in Shimokitazawa
The second day of the Kitazawahachiman Festival (9/7,8 北澤八幡神社例大祭) in Tokyo’s Setagaya ward started out with fine weather but turned increasingly rainy the day wore on, eventually there was such a...
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Horse Acrobatics – Bajikoen
At the national horse day event at Setagaya Ward’s Bajikoen I saw these school kids showing doing a bit of horse acrobatics. Very impressive, especially considering the very limited training time they...
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Kitazawa Hachiman Shrine – Omikoshi Kids
I took these photos on the first day of the big Kitazawa Hachiman Shrine festival a few weeks ago. Usually the kids have their own little omikoshi procession before the adult’s, but in this festival...
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Bringing Up the Omikoshi – Kitazawahachimangu Festival
The festival season is definitively over but this year’s was a good one. One of my favorite festivals from last season was the Kitazawahachimangu Matsuri (北澤八幡宮祭り) in Tokyo’s Setagaya Ward. I followed...
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More Kitazawahachimangu Omikoshi
Moving these omikoshi around is definitively a team effort. It would probably be much easier with about a dozen members but that would be defeating the purpose of this exercise, which is partly to...
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Yattokoren – Shimokitazawa Awaodori
Awaodori festival season has started and one of the bigger festivals of the summer is the Shimokitzawa Awaodori festival. It’s a two day event, on the 9th and 10th of August, from 18:30 to 20:30. The...
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Tonight – Kyodo Awaodori Festival
If you have free time in Tokyo tonight and are not too afraid of a little rain I recommend visiting Kyodo for their fantastic Awaodori festival, complete with a parade and stage set. Actually it is...
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Shimokitazawa Awaodori – This Weekend
If you are in Tokyo over the weekend and not afraid to spend a few hours outdoors in the 35 degrees heat I can only recommend that you get over to Shimokitazawa for their two day annual Awaodori...
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Kochonomai – Kitazawa Hachimangu Matsuri
At last year’s Kitazawa Hachimangu Matsuri (festival) in Tokyo’s Setagaya Ward I saw one of the most ancient forms of ritual court dances, the Kochonomai, or butterfly dance. It probably arrived to...
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