Koishikawa Matsuri

A matsuri on our very own doorstep. I walked up and down the road wondering what was meant to be going on. There were crowds of people hanging around ｔaiko [太鼓] and portable shrines, I could see about three separate groups, possibly from different companies or micro-neighbourhoods.

They all seemed to be preparing as opposed to actually performing. The kids were in their own little matsuri outfits, with some perched on the taiko kart randomly hitting the drum. Some of the older guys were trying to teach the kids the beat that they should be following, but it's far more fun just to whack the thing...so that's what ended up happening.

Portable shrine carried by small people

Another portable shrine, sitting in the play area just opposite our block of flats. possibly waiting for the festivities to get into full swing.

One of the taikos even wheeled right outside our house, they just seemed to be walking around the block with some kids perched on the kart to make some noise about it. Adults flanked the kart, protecting the group from traffic...

There were even food stalls set up in our quiet neighbourhood. They positioned themselves at the traffic junction closest to our house on the road leading up to the temple just north of the Botanical gardens. The guy at the takoyaki stall looks rather warm - and considering that he's in front of a hot plate with the hot weather, I don't envy him.

Takoyaki is a common snack food, especially for festivals like this - It involves a batter like mixture with some veg; say, cabbage, red ginger and what-not a peice of octopus [たこ] the batter is cooked into a little sphere with the veges and peice of octopus at the centre. Usually you get 6-8 little orbs in a tray, which is then smothered in a thick sweet soy sauce decorated with mayonase and sprinkled with some green dust (I still have no idea what this stuff is) and some katsuboshi [鰹節] (dried fish flakes).

Fishing for gold fish and the multi-coloured plastic version

Trying your luck with a paper paddle to catch little gold fish was very popular. 200yen for children, 300yen for adults and 500yen for a slightly different scoop to try and catch little turtles. Both the scoop and fish catching paddle were made of water soluble stuff to impede the amount of catching actually done. So it was quite a challenge added to the fact that the fish were fully aware of the whole catching situation. There were many different kinds of gold fish, fantails, telescope eyed ones, black ones, patchy coloured ones as well as small turtles a little catfish, shrimps and a miniature lobster.

Stairs to the temple itself

French crepes at the temple!

A little boy looks hopefully at his mum for the chance to catch some pretty fishes. Disappointed at her refusal, he goes back to staring intently at the pretty fishes.