The following weekend, we went to yet another matsuri. We were invited by a teacher from my elementary school, Kaiga-sensei. He is from Aboshi (a community in Himeji). He invited us to go to his parent's restaurant for dinner and then to the festival. His parents cooked a feast. His entire family was so kind. His four year old son was beside himself with joy to hang out with two English speakers. We had a great time with them! I didn't take very many pictures...I was having so much fun, I totally forgot.
It was one year ago that Julian arrived in Himeji - 10/20. The second night Julian was in Himeji, I took him to this festival. Last year, we missed the first night of the festival because I was picking him up at the airport. The first night of the Aboshi Festival are the lantern fights. Many communities walk around town with their lanterns.
Then later in the evening, near the shrine, they smash them against one another and break them apart. It takes all of 30 seconds to 1 minute to break all of these lanterns. My teacher told me that he use to be soar for days after this matsuri, from smashing against other people and their lanterns. We didn't get very good pictures but I thought it would give people an idea of what it's like.
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