The Sakata Festival
The Sakata Matsuri is a three day long festival held in mid-May and is
considered one of Shonai�s big 3 festivals. It began in 1609 and was a
chance for non-samurai merchants to wear swords. Small shrines used to be
carried through the streets. Today, however, due to natural disasters (!)
the shrines have been replaced by floats, which schools and businesses put
together, as well as the lion heads, which can be found in central Sakata
and to which babies and small children are fed. This terrifies the
children and is supposed to bring them good luck.
- The fun to be had in Japan
So the day had finally arrived and what a day it turned out to be. Perhaps 3
weeks prior I had been asked by the Sakata Kyodo Karyoku (Power Station) to
dress up as Cinderella for their float. I had little idea what this would
entail but the grin on my kocho sensei�s face and his broken English chuckle
�good experience� was a little worrying to say the least. I had been praying
for a small miracle but it looked as if everything was going to (their)
plan!
The day began with a 2-hour session in a (bridal) hairdressers with
accompanying make-up artist. I took one look at the make-up artist with
lashings of blue eye shadow and felt slightly worried for my safety.
However, I soon learnt that I know nothing about hair and make-up and should
really take much better care of myself! By 11:30am I could barely recognize
myself but in the back of my mind all I could think about was the hideous
pink dress clashing with the hideous orange pumpkin. With no time to waste I
was packed off to the hotel to change and was immediately reminded of the
hideous nature of the dress (more like something the ugly sisters would
wear). With three skirts to create �puffy� effect I soon realized I would
not be sitting down for the next 4 hours� But lunch had to commence! I was
soon stripped of the dress and put into the witches cloak to eat lunch. A
whole box of rice, soup, sushi etc was placed before me. However (hungry as
ever) I knew the dress was tight fitting already. Also, I knew toilet stops
were never going to happen so I had to save the beer and sake for later.
I ate a miniscule amount of salmon and rice while speeches proceeded (the
content of which I generally had no idea, as usual). Every time someone
looked in my direction I bowed and smiled appropriately still feeling
slightly ignorant to the whole affair! It then dawned on me that perhaps I
should have prepared a number of speeches in advance (just like the first
day I arrived in Sakata� swept straight to meet the headmaster and staff...
sweating attractively. I impressed nobody). Anyway, I stood embarrassed,
mumbled something about how happy I was and managed to receive applause
anyway. I realised at this point that blushing in a pink dress may not look
so attractive so should really run over a few snappy lines in Japanese!
Back to the dressing room, I was amazed at how one sip of beer and a
mouthful of rice could pop the top clip off the dress. This managed to cause
a 5-minute panic until we found safety pins (this was getting classier by
the minute!) I soon shuffled off to see the float for the first time. Oh My
God! It was very bright which amazingly toned down the hideous nature of the
dress. The float was florescent pink adorned with a revolving orange
pumpkin, perhaps 3 metres above the ground. Quite a sight!
I clambered, elegantly (of course), up the ladder to take position and was
instructed to wave Mickey Mouse in one hand and to the crowd with the other
pink-gloved hand! (Am I painting a pretty picture?!) 45 minutes later we
began to roll. Everyone, except yours truly, was pretty sloshed having now
been boozing since lunchtime. Disney tunes blaring, 200,000 people watching,
NHK radio and TV interviews. Fame had finally struck! It was incredible and
to top it all off we won first prize out of forty floats. The whole thing
was very surreal and out of character but it called for big celebrations. I
was now thankfully out of the dress and I could breathe once more. My
Japanese improved no end as the sake flowed! And somehow I ended up at home
with three goldfish�����. but that�s another story.By Laura Laver.
|
