On the flutists count, 200 bamboo poles carrying 46 candle lit lanterns each are hoisted up into the air and then precariously balanced there on just the hip, shoulder, palm, or forehead of a single man! The first man starts with a short pole, then a few minutes later a new man rotates in and an extension is added to the pole. This continues until the poles are 12m high and weigh 50kg, all while the taiko drums beat, the flutists play, and the onlookers cheer “Dokkoisho dokkoisho!” as the men stoically try to outdo each other!

On the hip

On the shoulder

On the forehead!

                             

Tom lifting one of the poles himself. The men were amazed when he could actually do it!

The biggest smile I've ever seen!

And one of the cutest! 

These boys had mini poles that they would practice lifting during the festival.
The forehead method was their favourite, but as a result the pole didn't spend much time in the air!

If you've ever heard the drum of a taiko drum, you know that it reverberates through your chest. Now imagine 10,000 of them beating in unison. That's the Sansa Odori! Over 10,000 drummers, flutists and dancers dance their way through the streets of Morioka as they play and yell "Sakkora choiwa yasse", meaning "bring in good luck" in very old Japanese. What's most impressive about it is that the dance is pretty complicated, yet the drummers perform it perfectly while also carrying their 7kg drums around their necks! The parade lasts for about 2 hours, and everyone looked like they were having the best time, even right up until the end!

Legend has it that the festival began when a wicked demon was terrorising the town of Morioka. The townspeople prayed for their safety and a god called Mitsuishi answered them. He shackled the demon to one of the large rocks in the shrine and made him swear to never commit an evil deed again. As part of his promise to the god, the demon stamped his hand into the rock and disappeared, leaving the town in peace. The townspeople rejoiced and began singing and dancing around the rock, and thus the Sansa Odori was born. They even named the prefecture "Iwate", meaning "rock hand", which they say you can still see at Mitsuishi shrine after a rain fall. But you’ll have to go and see for yourself!

Zao Fox Village

The north is pretty far from Gifu, so the first day involved a few stops, the first being at the Zao Fox Village. In Japanese folklore, kitsune are intelligent and magical animals that have the ability to shape shift into humans. Some stories depict them as faithful friends and guardians to humans, but mostly they were said to be tricksters. To avoid being tricked by a cunning and mischievous kitsune, people answer the phone with “Moshi moshi” because supposedly it’s really difficult for foxes to say, so if the person on the other end doesn’t say moshi moshi back, then you know they’re a sneaky fox and aren’t to be trusted!

All the foxes we saw were adorable though, I even played a game with a young one as we chased each other around the enclosure! So now please enjoy these cute pictures of Japanese red foxes!

The soft at heart's who needled a snuggle!

Yamadera

Next up was Yamadera, a thousand year old temple built into the top of a mountain in Yamagata prefecture. You have to climb exactly 1000 stairs through a forest of giant cedar trees, hydrangea bushes, and moss covered lanterns to reach the top. Once you do you are awarded with a beautiful view overlooking a town nestled in the valley below. Yamadera is also famous for being the subject of this famous haiku, composed by Matsuo Bashō, which will probably strike a chord with anyone who has ever had the pleasure of experiencing Japan in the summer!

静けさや
岩にしみ入る
蝉の声
Silence, and penetrating into the rocks — the cry of the cicada

Ginzan Onsen Town

After our hike we were in need of a bath, and what better place to have one then in the beautiful Ginzan onsen town.  Ginzan is a quaint little town nestled in the mountains in Yamagata prefecture that consists of only twenty or so wooden buildings that line a river as it threads its way through a narrow valley. In the evening, after hotel guests have eaten and bathed, they dress in yukata and geta, traditional Japanese cotton robes and wooden sandals, and wander around the town lit by the soft glow of lanterns hanging from each door. It was a magical site, only somewhat ruined by our regular clothes and the fact that we were about to go to an izakaya to drink beers and then retire to our cosy little motorhome for the night! One day we might stay at one of these fancy hotels though, maybe…

Last week we embarked on a journey into the northern region of Tohoku for the best week I’ve had in Japan; the Tohoku Roku! 6 festivals across 6 prefectures in 6 days. 

The festivals line up pretty well so that you can experience most of them on consecutive days:
Fukushima Waraji Matsuri - the first weekend of August (but unfortunately it doubled up with Nebuta this year so we missed it)
Morioka Sansa Odori Matsuri - August 1-4
Akita Kanto Matsuri - August 3-6
Aomori Nebuta Matsuri - August 2-7
Yamagata Hanagasa Matsuri - August 5-7 (it also doubled up with Nebuta so we missed this one too)
Sendai Tanabata Matsuri - August 6-8

It's a hectic, whirlwind trip of the north, and it seems like were not the only ones making the most of these festivals lining up as accommodation in these cities books out way in advance, sometimes over a year in advance! To combat this we had the perfect solution; hire a motor home!

We would drive from city to city, scoping out convenience stores that we could subtly park in (or not so subtly seeing as we were trying to sneak our massive motor home into one of their limited parking spaces) for free for the night. This allowed us easy access to snacks and the amenities; the perfect campsite! As the motor home also didn't have a shower, this left us no option but to indulge in the local onsen we would find along our travels from city to city, leading to some interesting encounters with shocked obaachans who were probably seeing the first ever foreigner that'd stepped foot into their local onsen!

We learned that only 1% of all foreign visitors to Japan venture north into the Tohoku region, so everywhere we went we were greeted with broad smiles, free drinks, and invites to take part in the best matsuri in Japan! So this is the story of how 7 of us crammed ourselves into a motor home, drove over 2300km and visited 6 prefectures in one week, and had some of the most fun in our lives!