Matsuri 祭り Festivals In Japan - A Series P.2 Hachioji Matsuri

This is part 2 in what will be a 5 or 6 part series of matsuri's in Japan. If you missed part 1 you can read it here:
https://steemit.com/travel/@rt395/matsuri-festivals-in-japan-a-series

We left off finishing up a few matusuris in my wife's hometown. Now I wanted to introduce you to 2 matsuri's that I went to last year but as I finished this I realized the post would be too long, so let's just focus on the the big one, the Hachioji Matsuri. It's so big in fact they do it for 3 days in the beginning of August, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Ten's of thousands of people attend each day and Saturday even gets into the hundred thousand plus range. It's held on the famous Koshu Kaido which is the old road that led from Tokyo to Yamanashi & Kyoto. The side streets that intersect Koshu Kaido are filled with food & beverage vendors, game vendors gift vendors and more. About 300 in total.

(RT20 is Koshu Kaido)

We arrived just as the sun went down and things really started getting lively. We couldn't believe how many people were actually there. My wife and I wanted to grab a drink and join the festivities, so we popped into Don Quixote really quickly and grabbed a pair of Corona's. DonKey as we call it, is a wacky department store that has really good prices on everything, including beer.

Once we got back out onto the street it was starting to swell with people. The sounds of flutes & drums echoed amongst the tall buildings along with laughter and chants by the participants pulling the Dashi through the streets. Dashi are the tall float/stages that performers & cheerleaders ride on. They are amazing! Not only the detail in the carpentry, but the design as well.

The performers on the Dashi are there to entertain the gods in the Mikoshi, which are much smaller, but still very elaborate, wooden structures that house the spirit of the gods.

While taking all of this in we were also inundated with the smell of roasted everything, corn, beef, pork, vegetables, etc.. Naturally the first thing we decided to try was the nearest, bacon on a stick!

Actually, it wasn't bacon, or at least American bacon. It was just a nice slab of ham. Japanese consider this bacon though. So we layered on the mustard and kept walking.

Almost immediately our kids began screaming they wanted a candied apple nearby so we grabbed one of those and I took the first bite, to make sure there was nothing dangerous about it of course.

After walking a few more minutes we encountered something I often dream about, but rarely have the chance to enjoy, some high grade Kobe beef! It was being cut & cooked fresh by the staff of the restaurant they stood in front of. This was pretty close to heaven. Taste & texture put it around an A4 at least. They even tossed in some cabbage so you don't feel so guilty.

After this we were satisfied. The alcohol was taking it's toll and our bellies were full so we slogged through the streets taking everything in as we slowly made our way back to the station.

While this matsuri doesn't have a really standout theme like Nebuta in Aomori or the Hanabi matsuri Wakakusa Yamayaki where they burn an entire mountain, it makes up for in it's size and food!

And lastly a short movie of what it's like to be there.

Next in the series, Nebuta matsuri in Aomori. The giant warrior floats.

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