東京DANDYさんのインスタグラム動画 - (東京DANDYInstagram)「The Furukwa Matusri. ‘Intangible Folk Cultural Property’ of Japan, labeled ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage’ by UNESCO. Austere classifications for what is a visceral and emotive event. It was a five-hour journey from my home in Tokyo through the mountains and valleys of Gifu Prefecture to the highlands of Hida for this event that has taken place for over four centuries. I was here before, in 2019. This was my revenge trip on the past four years - a cyclical moment of personal reckoning. The day began with boys taking drums out of storage at Ketawakamiya Shrine. I overheard them discussing whether the best place to have a cig would be over in the car park or behind the toilets (the toilets won, they were closer). This is the Japan I love, edo-era outfits and electric cigarettes. It’s not a collision of past and present but a synthesis. I witnessed the spiritual start of the procession as the god from the shrine was spirited into the mikoshi, and younger members asked elders, ‘Which way around did the god go?’ Something in that simple exchange expresses the importance of inter-generational relationships that these festivals symbolize. Lion Dancers greeted the start; those lads were dancing non-stop until the end of the festival the following day. The pomp of the daytime ceremony becomes more primal as the sunsets. Gangs of local men charge into local homes and businesses with ceremonial drums. Large taiko drums are straddled by two ‘lucky’ guys for a three-hour procession around town. The drums become jousts as each local team jostles for the honor of the space directly behind the drums. Hundreds follow carrying lanterns. People of the town take to widows and rooftops to watch. It’s mesmerizing. The next day is quieter yet ornate. Yatai floats, some over a century old and featuring performers, are paraded around town. When I was here in 2019, the famed ‘kids kabuki’ weren’t performed as there weren’t any kids of the right age, a symptom of japans falling birthrate and rural depopulation. In 2023 they had returned, as a new generation carries the festival into the future. #古川祭 #古川 #matsuri #festival #Japan #飛騨古川 #Matsuri #Gifu #gogifu」5月2日 18時42分