I've been meaning to make a more thorough write-up about this all week, but with my net down, I've been remiss. So unfortunately, I'm going to skip most of the colour commentary and links. (Here is the history if you're really interested.) I will mention that the weather was rainy on the Saturday (I didn't go) and lovely on the Sunday (I did go.) Since the funky dance they do is called the
雀/スズメ踊り (suzume odori which translates as "Sparrow Dance", ergo my post's title. It gave me a chance to teach all my students about sparrows, since they ALL know who Jack Sparrow is!
So what follows are numerous photos of the dancers and 神輿 (mikoshi or portable shrines.)
Colourful dancers.
Bad photo, but cool portable shrine.
Woo-woo-woo!
Some fledging sparrows, 小スズメ (ko-suzume) who get their own dance.
Keep on flocking!
Another cool mikoshi.
Hauling the shrine (some are trying harder than others.)
More baby sparrows.
Protecting onlookers from Stephen King's The Dark Half (obscure reference to the sparrows in that novel.)
One of my favourites of the day.
They're flying!
Competitors on the main stage.
Other cool stuff took place at (Nishiki-cho Park) but I missed most of it.
I did get to see the lamest magician ever!
A plethora of keychains!
A plethora of character-masks for the kiddie-cosplayers.
A couple of tweenies flogging their new CD!
It was nice of Sendai to host this event again this year (by the way, the collective noun for a group of sparrows is: a host of sparrows!)
I'll be there again next year, I'm sure or I'll be sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry!
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