I've found that I am becoming more and more intent on seeing as many things in Japan as I possibly can before I head home in just over 6 weeks (yikes!). So..how could I pass up watching half naked men carrying 1 ton floats through the streets of Fukuoka at 5 oclock in the morning for Hakata Gion Yamakasa?? Totally wasn't going to miss that!
Check out this link for some quick info about the Gion Yamakasa festival held in Fukuoka each July.
Lazy blogger moment much? http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/location/spot/festival/hakatagionyamakasa.html.
Meh, I am what I am.
The festival.was.BRILLIANT! I was super fortunate to be able to stay Sunday night in Fukuoka at Ken's friends house to be able to make it on time for the bright and early start time of the festival. We rode our bikes to avoid the busy bus/public transit of the day and arrived in Hakata Gion area just after 5am. The streets were packed with people watching men heave and shove huge floats down the streets of Fukuoka. They also had countless buckets and hoses at the ready to throw water on the participants to keep them cool (good idea, considering it was already a staggering 27 degrees with 84% humidity at 5:15am). Another essential and exciting part of the festival is the encouragement chant of "Oisa!" that they scream to each other to keep up their energy and work together as a team unit to push, pull and carry the enormous floats.
Oisa, Oisa, Oisa!!
So....at 7:40 am, when things were dying down (amazing) we rode our tired selves to Ohori park for a nap on a bench. Best nap I've ever had. Woke up at 8:50 ready to take the day by storm!
And if I thought that seeing this festival once wasn't enough, there was another one running in Iizuka city later that day. Why NOT go? This one was quite a bit easier to get a good view and participate in the water throwing!
Okay...it was a little strange.
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