The following week, I was also dragged from idleness to again carry a shrine, though smaller and for less time, at the Torigoe Matsuri. This particular festival is held in the evening, with candles illuminating the mikoshi as they are carried to the small shrine.
The orange lights are the shrines.
Stopping to receive the blessing of the temple priests under the crescent moon.
A foreign monkey trainer burdened with mikoshi.Surrounding the main event, of course, are the attendant booths, selling food, booze and those with games. Games like "scoop the goldfish/turtle/other aquatic creature". Well, that is not the official name, but that better conveys the gist of it.
Scoop them up and take them home, as many as you can before your paper scooper disintegrates.
The catch of the idle monkey trainer, who, by the way, practices catch and release. After all, what is an idle monkey trainer going to do with six small green turtles and that other thing?Different festivals have different attendant events, of course, and among the more rare is the lion dance. This apparently used to be much more common, but has lost some of its popularity and there are fewer dancers able to perform nowadays. But, if you are lucky enough to get a "bite" from the lion, it brings good luck.
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