Down Memory Lane II: Onarao Matsuri
This was the scene at Narao shrine during last year's fall festival. It's just your ordinary town shrine, nothing too outlandish. The festival itself was a small and cosy Narao affair and displayed none of the grandiosity of other big and famous festivals held throughout Japan. While anyone can travel all the way to participate in large scale festivals whereby one of the main aim is to attract tourists, not anyone get to have a taste of the real local way of celebration. There is more to these festivals than dancing and merry making. It is a day where folks pray for good fortune, health and in this case also safety on the sea (there is still quite a sizeable fishing population on this part of the island you see). I appreciate the simplicity of Narao's festival for it offered me a peek of the Japanese mind and spirit.
One way to give thanks was through dancing and this picture shows my elegant dance teacher parading with kids on the streets. I bet you can't tell that she's fast approaching her 80s!
That's me in a beautiful furisode (long-sleeved kimono worn only by unmarried girls) on the left! The dance teacher had kindly lent me her daughter's kimono for the performance at night. Yes, this was the dance pictures I've promised to put online but never did for such a long time. Next, I am going to share with you my ghostly face too! Please don't be too taken aback by what you see and promise not to laugh!
Me and my dance partner Ayaka and double Tsuyoshis. If you think this looks alright, that's because of the lighting in this photo and that I've not shown you the really hideous ones!
It was really sweet of the other ALTs (from left Melissa, Carrie and Joe)who had came to give support to my 初舞台 or what they called maiden performance. 
And finally a few pictures of some dance items. All these little kids look absolutely adorable don't they? They were also very good dancers too!
posted by テレサ @ 10:01 AM
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