The Roving Ronin Report

This is a playlist of Japanese Festivals that I have taken video over the years. Matsuri or Japanese Festivals are wild and wonderful events and should be on anyone's itinerary for a Japanese trip. There are festivals going on every month. Here's a list of my videos on various Japanese festivals and events that I have been to. This may be useful for those coming to Japan who would like to see such events. I've been to many more so if you have a question about a festival just ask.

Artistic Chaos!!! The Tokyo Design Festa – a chaotic ensemble of art The Tokyo Design Festa Anime fan wearing an all handmade costume As I entered the futuristic-looking Tokyo Big Site building on Odaiba Island, I was greeted by a person with the head of fish. Beyond him/her/it and all about the place wandered a colorful assortment of strange characters which appeared to have been born in fertile imaginations bred on Japanese Anime, Gothic Horror, and Salvador Dali. It was then that I knew I had reached my destination: the Tokyo Design Festa. F ishhead man advertising Getting a leg up or two at Tokyo Design Festa Usagi – Drumming Rabbits – Female Taiko Group Design Festa is a chaotic showcase of artists, musicians, craftsmen, designers, dancers, and performers – the sublime mixed with the avant garde. The Design Festa takes place twice a year in Tokyo and has been going on for 14 years. A Wild Wall Artists come from all over the world to participate. Booths are set up to showcase their...

Japanese Mudslinging Festival Brings Good Luck  Dairokuten-no-Hadaka Matsuri: Mudslinging Fun! Would you believe this is a sacred spiritual ritual? It’s a cold day in late February as men young and old clad only in thin white loincloths stand stoically shivering knee-deep in freezing cold water. At a signal they all rush each other flinging handfuls of mud at one another. They also wrestle and toss each other about in the muddy cold water. What may appear to be school boy rough-housing with a sado-masochistic bent is actually a spiritual ritual done to insure good harvest while simultaneously bringing luck to the mud-flinging participants and spectators. The Shinto gods must love a good free-for-all and the Dairokuten-no-Hadaka Matsuri gives them a good show. Half-naked men gathered in cold muddy water to entertain the Gods. The Dairokuten-no-Hadaka Matsuri is just one of many “naked” festivals held throughout Japan often in winter. Hadaka means “naked” but in actuality the participant...

The Kamogawa Odori Geisha Dance The spring dances of Kyoto offer a rare glimpse of Geisha performances A young Maiko (Geisha Apprentice) performing in the Kamogawa Odori True geisha dance performances are rare events that one can only witness if they are part of the affluent clientele of Kyoto’s elusive Geisha tea houses or if they are fortunate enough to procure a seat at one of the annual public performances given in Spring and Fall. Spring dances are traditional events held every year to celebrate the ending of winter. Most of the year, the general public only has the chance to occasionally spy geisha as they scurry along the streets of Gion and Pontocho to their assignments. These spring dances represent a chance for the public to see the geisha in all their glory performing ancient traditional dances. Before the performance guests may observe a tea ceremony The Kamogawa Odori is a geisha dance performance presented in the late spring in the Pontocho district of Kyoto. Pontocho is ...