Festival in Kagurazaka

To start with, we almost missed it. On the last day, people at the guest house told us about it and considering it was only one station away, it'd be a shame to not go. When I arrived it was already underway with lots of people milling about. It's impossible to describe the atmosphere, really. You just have to be there to know what's it like. There are people sitting on blankets with all the picnic equipment, stores are open and selling food and drinks, people talk, laugh, photograph and video record the dancers. To put it shortly, you can feel the festive mood all around you. It's also a good chance to see people in traditional wear as there are quite a few.

One thing I've been surprised about is that there were foreigners in the parade. I guess the times are changing after all.

There were many ( and I really mean that ) different groups that sang and danced one after the other. Usually, there's a "banner wielder" at the front, dancers slash singers after him and last are the musicians.

Here's proof that foreigners do, indeed, take part in the festivals nowadays.

Here you can see what kind of instruments were played. It certainly sounded very festive!

Children are a big part of a festival, both as direct participants and spectators. People generally treat matsuri like a picnic occasion ( to some extent that is ) and often come with kids of all ages.

This is how most of the long street looked like during the festival. Minus the policeman as he was part of a team that directed traffic at a nearby intersection.

I shot a blurry photo of these people at the end of the festival when they were heading back. Really made me wish I was there from the very beginning.

One of a few portraits that actually turned out right. It's real hard to get a good photo of moving people in poor lighting conditions without a proper flash.

At the end of the festival dancers ask people that stand the closest to join and dance. It can turn into quite a party:P. I guess people aren't that shy after a few beers ( drinking alcohol was common but didn't really cause any problems ).