Author: travel67

Awa Odori – Tokushima City

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Awa Odori, one of the great Japanese dance festivals. It takes place every August in Tokushima City on Shikoku Island. I photographed the festival about 5 years ago, before I started shooting digital. In many way things have changed a great deal. I’m shooting far more frames and I’m using higher ISOs when needed. However, the job of getting the images is just the same. Before the event it’s logistics and paperwork, then travel, and on the day of the festival it’s all about interaction and hopefully artistic vision. The change to digital did mean I could sit on the train back to Okayama and review the day’s images. Otherwise, I’d have had to dump a bag of 220 rolls off at Yodobashi Camera and then patiently wait to see what develops… A few of the elegant girls and ladies taking part.

The Tobacconist

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Met up with photographer Trevor Williams in Okayama and spent the day checking out Naoshima Island in the Seto Inland Sea. Driving around the island we spotted an old store squeezed between more modern buildings. Murao is an 83-year-old tobacconist who defiantly sells his cigarettes and non-safety matches just has he has done for more than half a century. The sign next to his window says, Kyo mo genki da! Tobako ga umai, which roughly translates as, Today I’m also healthy. Tobacco is delicious. The future of tobacconists is literally on Murao’s doorstep. A cigarette vending machine with taspo age identification sits beside his store. Murao however doesn’t seem worried. Against all the odds, he’s happy and healthy, still puffing away.

Soma Nomaoi – Mock Battles with Real Danger

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As explained in the previous Soma Nomaoi blog, banners float down from the sky and riders who catch them win prizes. Obviously catching them inflight is the preferred method, which is why the men have canes with which to grab the banners. However, if the banner makes it to the floor, the brave will spring from their steed and, surrounded by galloping horses, make a grab for the banner. Dozens of horses, ridden by men gazing skywards, all hurtling towards the same place. Ambulances are on standby. On two occasions horses were knocked to the ground, each time the rider’s leg was pinned beneath the horse’s flank. Eventually the horses got back to their feet, but in both cases the rider was taken off to hospital to get checked out. Along with  Suwa’s Onbashira Festival, Soma Nomaoi is a spectacular festival that celebrates bravery and the samurai spirit.