Futon Daiko Festival

To celebrate the Harvest Moon, there's a regional festival that takes place every year in the town that I am staying in. To my surprise, it's a quite popular and large festival! It's called the Futon Daiko festival, and it takes place at the Mozuhachiman Taisho here in Sakai. On a beautiful sunny Sunday, I decided to check it out.

Although much of the festivities take place at the shrine location, the actual Futon Daikos are carried around town at different times. A quick search tells me that there are around 13 of them. This is how the city website describes it:

About four meters high and weighting about three tons, the Futon Daiko consists of a platform with a taiko drum, on top of which are five overlapping layers of vermillion cushions. About 70 people carry the Futon Daiko, with their unique shouts of "bera-bera-bera-sho-shoi" mixing with the sound of the drum as they proceed through towns. Afterward, the drum is dedicated to the shrine.

The Futon Daiko coming down the street. 

It's huge! It must be really tiring to haul this thing around.

Aw. here's a mini Futon Daiko, being carried around by kids.

And here's a Futon Daiko at rest, next to the shrine.

There were also a really big market set up on the shrine grounds, with food and game vendors.

Strolling through the stalls

Lots of vendors set up around the shrine grounds

This one sold all kinds of fruit dipped into melted sugar

Lots of stalls had games set up. In this one, you can catch little crabs to
take home. In others, you could catch fish.

I got some fried chicken to nibble on. I don't know
what it is, but Japanese chicken is always so tender and
juicy and flavorful!

And, I got a shaved ice. This was like... the opposite of
the snowy flake ice in Taiwan, This was 'barely crushed'
ice. :P Still, it was tasty on a hot day!

There were so many people at the festival!

Kyoto Day Trip

Six months in Japan, and I haven't made it to Kyoto yet?! I decided to remedy that this weekend, and set out for a short trip.

Kyoto is actually really close to Osaka; from my place (which is south of city center), the entire trip only took about an hour and a half. The train ride was comfortable and easy; only one transfer needed!

Because this was a short day trip, I decided to take it easy and only pick a couple things to do. After all, I can (and will) return! With that in mind, my first destination was Fushimi Inari Taisha, a shrine famous for its thousands of red gates.

Gorgeous day to sightsee!

I felt like I was walking in my sister's footsteps... after all, she had visited about 6 months ago! Her photos do the beautiful scenery MUCH more justice than my ancient point-and-shoot ever could though!

This was a holiday weekend in Japan, so the shrine was understandably mobbed. At the bottom of the mountain, there were crowds of people, all trekking through the gates. Luckily, as I climbed, the crowd thinned out.

Look at all the people!

After a half hour, there were a lot less people!

I was warned by my sister that the public map was misleading. Indeed, it seemed like I was making great pace one moment, but then slowed to a complete crawl. After 45 minutes, I was only halfway up!

Beautiful view, halfway up the mountain

I'm sad to say that I didn't make it all the way to the top. It was lunchtime, and I was hungry! As I headed down though, I overheard a group of HK tourists comment that it actually wasn't too far of a hike to the top; the map was severely NOT to scale. Oh well... maybe next time...?

Oh to be like the cat... naptime is the most peaceful thing!

Interestingly enough, although the uphill walk seemed mild, making my way down absolutely KILLED my calves. :P

After a quick convenience store lunch break, I spent the afternoon walking around the Gion district. There was a lot to see, and many tempting things to buy. Beautiful shops with handmade goods and pretty storefronts (decorated tastefully like the most upscale French chocolatiers) selling pickles... all existed in conjunction with huge modern department stores.

Passing by the Yasaka Shrine

Gorgeous park!

Gion district during the day. Most shops were closed, so there wasn't much
to see. It was MUCH prettier at night. Unfortunately, my camera's
night-time photos are so bad that I can't possibly post anything!

Rats; I forgot the name of this. I think it's the Kenninji Zen Temple? It
 cost money to go into the grounds, so I just walked around the perimeter

Kyoto is a pretty city; the old and new co-exist together harmoniously. I have only seen a small slice of what it has to offer... I shall return again!