an american werewolf in japan: The Goshogowara Fire Festival

Every July, Goshogowara City (on the western, Tsugaru side of Aomori prefecture) holds its annual fire festival (himatsuri). The purpose of the festival is to pray for fertile soil and a good fall harvest. This is accomplished by parading giant dragon floats around town and into an open field, where they are burned. Fair enough.

Upon arriving at town hall, we were directed to a changing room where a team of old ladies would help us change into our festival outfits (modeled by the lovely Leo, above). Of course, the festival organizers had failed to communicate a number of things to us, like the fact that white socks were apparently required. As I don’t even own a pair of white socks, I was told that I would have to wear the requisite (and extremely painful-looking) rope sandals on my bare feet. After a series of negotiations however, I was permitted to wrap white cloth around my feet instead.

Anyway, here’s what the dragon floats look like. Unfortunately, we were not permitted to carry any of these and were instead relegated to carrying a giant, flaming bundle of tindersticks:

Once our float had been lit on fire, carrying it became a somewhat unpleasant task. As we walked through the streets with the float hoisted on our shoulders, fire and ashes rained down on us from above. But wait, wouldn’t that be dangerous? I suppose it would be, if it weren’t for the volunteers who sprayed us down with water at the end of every block. Keep in mind that it wasn’t a particularly warm day and the hose brigade seemed especially fond of spraying the foreigners. Thanks guys.

Despite the arduousness of our journey, spirits remained high.

We eventually carried the float to its final destination: a hole in the ground where it could be used like a giant matchstick.

Matt reminds us that in order to carry such a float, you must be very strong and also, ridiculously dressed.

Leo reminds us that he is covered in ashes and also, that he is a master of making funny faces.

For our efforts, we were treated to free tea and onigiri (rice balls).

After enjoying our meager meal, we walked around the festival for a bit, taking in the sights. Here, we see some demons getting down and funky with it.

I can’t remember what ended up happening to the floats that we had worked so hard to carry but we couldn’t really see from where we were sitting, anyhow. The festival’s grand finale was a huge fireworks show, which featured some metal dragons spitting fire at each other and other such things.