天神祭2008

The four of us with the foreigner MC after the Land Procession (Riku-Togyo)

Eng-chan

Ate Erlyn

Igor

Yatta, another Matsuri! This time, it’s Tenjin Matsuri! The Matsuri is held every year at 24th and 25th of July, but the main attraction is on 25th because there are Land Procession (Riku-Togyo), Boat Procession (Funa Togyo), and of course, Fireworks (Hanabi)! Yey! My first hanabi in Japan

The two floats which was told to be 3 tons each (if i wasn’t mistaken:p), 重いですね。。

A very interesting parade, where those guys on the float hit the taiko while the float was being shaked over and over again

Osaka Jime

Osaka Jime is the Osaka style of salutation. This is the essential movement of the Tenjin Matsuri. Not only this festival but in the business chances they also salute with this style in the stock exchange or the meetings of economy organizations to cheer them up. The Osaka salutation goes like this:

1. Uchima-sho <clap><clap>
2. Mohitotsu se- <clap><clap>
3. Iwo-te sando <clap><clap>–pause–<clap>

–quoted from the booklet of Tenjin Matsuri

After the procession ended, we walked to look for the spot to see hanabi. On our way there, we crossed the bridge and saw a beautiful scenery of the sky. Then we continued our journey looking for the hanabi. Apparently, it wasn’t that easy. So many people, so crowded! When we arrived at the wide bridge, we thought we could see the hanabi from there since it’s wide space. But then we heard the police said something like the hanabi can’t be seen from there. So we walked again, following the crowds hoping to find a good spot. Time was running out, the hanabi could start any moment, we were so worried. Then we reached another bridge, but this one was much more crowded than the previous one. From the police announcement we heard that hanabi could be seen from there, so we looked for a place to settle. Then, boom! we heard the sound of firework, but where???Oh my God, half of the hanabi was covered by a building, and it was like so far away So we decided to look for a better spot. Crawling through the crowd of people, crossing the road with so many cars passing by, hearing the sounds of some fireworks but couldn’t see them, running here and there, still could not find a good spot so we gave up. “let’s just find something to eat”, i said. You know, people said that the expected comes when you least expect it, and it’s proven that night. Suddenly, we arrived at a very good spot, where we could see the hanabi so clearly, line of sight! ) In the middle of the crowds, we looked at the hanabi, we enjoyed every moment, eng-chan was recording all hanabi, i was taking pictures of the hanabi until the battery ran out, we sang like crazy, and we did group hug )

After the land procession, on our way to hanabi spot, we saw this beautiful scenery from the bridge

Finally, hanabi!

Feeling so satisfied, we ate and sit and relax. Afterwards, we went home feeling so tired yet satisfied and happy It was a great moment! My first hanabi in Japan, and it was with my best friends