An Omatsuri, or a traditional festival, is a good display of the Japanese culture and lifestyle beyond the modern likes of Anime and Manga. With that in mind, no wonder that the third year of the Calgary Japanese Festival Omatsuri expanded many patrons’ horizons on their knowledge of Japan.
Happi coats: Being a admissions and food ticket sales volunteer, we received these to wear from Japanese Consulate while on shift. Despite the glaring sun making it a bit hot wearing them, wearing Happi coats (apparently a traditional festival garment) gave me a sense of new familiarity with the Japanese culture.
The Omikoshi parade – Right after the opening ceremony was the Omikoshi parade, where a small Shinto shrine (pictured above) was carried by several participants. In doing my research, I found out that the divine miniature building is believed to be transporting a deity in the Shinto belief. While being small in size, the shrine was crafted intricately and caught the attention of those who passed by the display.
Karate and Iaido – During the afternoon stage performances, there were excellent displays of both traditional martial arts. I find Karate a lot more of an active sport and Iaido a bit too passive for my tastes, but to each his own.
A Dharma dog it is – While the interwebs gave me a variety of names to describe this somewhat-Japanese innovation (including the famous Japadog in Vancouver), the festival had it as a “Dharma dog.” Filled with toppings such as pickled ginger, onions, seaweed, and a light helping of wasabi, this cultural twist on an everyday item just can’t be better. If I ever get another chance to gobble one of this delicacy down, I would opt in for even more wasabi – nope, I’m not afraid.
Japanese vendors – With so many snacks and items to look out for, the lesson of the day for me is to never go to a festival without taking the urge to buy items from vendors into consideration. Now I regret not being able to blog while munching on bags of those snacks up above, for example. Oh well, I’ll savour it next time.
Do all these pictures make up for not catching on to many of the Japanese words I was taught while volunteering? Or maybe the fact I didn’t really get to see all the participants for the Yukata contest? I sure hope so. Domo arigato for taking a look at my two cents of the festival, and now I know what to be focusing on when I visit or volunteer next year.
If you would like see more of the festival, the organizers have put together photos on their Facebook page. Click away at our yycstreetfestivals tag for more festival posts. 🙂
