November 29, 2008

A Sea of Lights

This month, I had the opportunity to attend two bamboo light festivals. One called Takeyoi Festival and the other Chikuraku Festival. This post collects a number of photos I took at Chikuraku Festival, my favorite of the two. The festivals consisted of over 10,000 bamboo stalks cut into various lenghts and bound together in numerous designs.

In areas of high concentration, one would feel a slight floating sensation as is depicted in the above and below photos.

On the various paths throughout the town that lea up to the castle and temples, bamboo candles were lined up along the steps making the stairs impassable, but the result was stunning.

Certain temples and shops added their own flair to the standard grouping of three stalks tied together. The flowers below were stunning.

Between the main groupings of candles and 'main' sights you could find groups of candles leading you to the next destination. They had their own charm too.

These two festivals were magical (幻想) and my favorite so far in Japan. I will definitely be returning each year as long as I am in the area.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Those are just stunning photographs. What a simple and elegant idea, who'd have thought that a length of bamboo and a candle could make such beautiful art. Lighting 10,000 candles must have been quite a task though...