Posts from — January 2008

Three young women dressed in kimono for “Coming of Age Day” sit on granite and wait for the bus on a frigid day as it begins to snow.

Click for some clips from the just-concluded Ebisu Matsuri in Kyoto, a festival at Ebisu Shrine where people pray for business success in the new year and buy branches and all kinds of lucky charms in hopes that the gods will favor them over the following year.

I probably should have posted this a while ago…

Kurama Fire Festival (6 min, 37 MB Quicktime)

The Kurama Himatsuri, or Fire Festival, is held every October in a tiny mountain village in northern Kyoto. Progressively larger torches are paraded up and down this one-street town by teams in traditional costume, as a thumping taiko beat stokes the enthusiasm. Finally, fulfilling the ancient prophesy, Bobby Valentine is mystically conjured out of the sparks and smoke.