The Payne Family: Shuri Castle Festival

October 26, 2008

One thing I'm noticing about Okinawa...they have a lot of festivals! I think there has been one just about every weekend since we've been here. Of course, the boys are ALWAYS happy to tag a long with me when I decide we have to check out the current festival! (that's my story, and I'm sticking to it!)

This weekend was the Shuri Castle Festival. Events went on all weekend, but we went down to the parade on Sunday. The parade was down Kokusai Street in downtown Naha. Kokusai Street is a major shopping area- not only the main street but off side streets and alleys.

We made it downtown just as the parade was reaching our area (towards the end of the parade route). Finding parking is always an experience- this time we parked in an attended lot. You park the car- then give the attendant your key and he gives you a receipt. We left hoping the car would be there when we got back (it was) and that we understood what the rates were (we did- was just $4.50 for over 3 hours which is cheap for downtown). Since none of the streets have names (the major streets do, but none of the side streets are named), we had to

be careful to keep track of where the parking lot was- it would NOT have been good to lose the car! We took a picture of the street we parked on- you can see how narrow the side streets are here.

This cheerful lady was announcing the beginning of the parade- given the 'microphone' she is holding, we were not sure what she was announcing for...a school project perhaps??

This nice lady worked so hard to get a program of the parade to us. She was on one side of the sidewalk and we were on the other side. Every time David tried the cross, someone would step in front of him. Every time she tried to cross or hand over the brochure, someone blocked her. She kept laughing and trying. After several minutes David finally had to walk down the sidewalk, cross and come back to her. Who know it would be so hard to reach across four feet? Just a little thing, but she was so sweet for trying so hard to get the program to us. Of course, we couldn't read a thing as it was all in Japanese, but it was still nice to see the pictures.

The parade was wonderful- a riot of colors and culture. It was touted that this was a parade so we could "experience first hand how life was centuries ago...(it) presents the ancient Kingdom in vivid color, with resplendent costumes...a parade of kings, queens, lady's maid, men and even messengers dispatched from China turn back the clock of time..." All the participants were local Okinawans who volunteered.

The parade would stop at the major intersections along the way and perform. Once they stopped, the crowd would come off of the sidewalks and surround the performers. Afterwards the crowd was quick to clear the road, but if there were a few stragglers who where a bit slow, parade officials were there to hasten their departure (nicely, but firmly).

You see in this photo how the crowd is came around to watch the performers. This young group was energetic and fun to watch.

This group that came through was amazing- it was by far the biggest group of the parade.

These ladies are apparently "Ryukyu Buyoh" and Kumiodori"- two of Okinawa's old court dances which are still being passed down from generation to generation.

These "clackers" were incredible loud...especially when there were so many being used at once. It was a very different sound, but mixed with the Sanshins it sounded wonderful!

This is called a

"Sanshin" (which literally means "three string") or "Shamisen" and it is a three stringed instrument which looks similar to a banjo. The body is covered with snake skin. It's illegal to export these to the Uni

ted States if they have real snake skin on them but you can have them custom made with snake skin like material (but they won't guarantee the sound quality of the instrument if you do this.)

I loved this guys robe- the stitching was beautiful!

These Fan Dancers were resplendent in their glorious red kimonos.

These guys could whistle like you could NOT believe- we thought it was a musical instrument at first- then realized it was them. We have never heard anyone who could whistle like this.