Alright now, back to Fuji Yoshiida. After watching the mikoshi parade Mom and I headed down to the street festival. This is where all the vendors set up their food stalls and you can get everything from boiled potatoes with a scoop (literally like an ice cream scoop) of butter and crepes filled with strawberries and whipped cream to grilled squid and baby octopus cooked in a pancake like batter. I can't say that I've gotten up the nerve to try the latter - I think the Japanese might have a serious issue with me running for the nearest toilet. Just looking at these little guys gives me the willes.
Each store owner or homeowner along the street seemed to be (at least to us) in charge of their own bonfire. These ran along the middle of the road for a couple of miles. They apparently could choose to either stack firewood:
or get a gigantic straw funnel. This was especially cool because they light underneath and the flame comes shooting out the top. It took several guys to get these up despite them appearing to be rather flimsy.
We really lucked out and just happened to be standing next to one of these bonfires when a group of people sat down around it and started chanting. They were all dressed alike and had stamps all over their clothing like those that you get when you hike up Mt. Fuji. I'm not entirely sure what that signified but they were fascinating to watch.
The night was just gorgeous to see with all the fires lit in the town. It was a fantastic end to a great visit with Mom here.
If you watch this video you can hear the people chanting, it was just beautiful to listen to. To me it sounded very similar to what I think it would be like to hear a group of Native Americans chanting. Interesting isn't it that you could have two totally different cultures but that both would have some sort of ceremony which involves chanting around a fire.
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