The Kizuna Are All Right!

On Saturday, I ventured outdoors to the Kizuna Festival which used to be known as the Rokkon-Sai. It's a gathering of six different prefectures main fests in one package. The one linked above has a few pics, but it was SO crowded the parade was cancelled in my vantage point. Not so on Saturday, I got a bird's eye view.

The Prefectures in attendance are as follows, though I am not exactly sure which was which. (Also forgive me if the lineup has changed.)

Aomori: Nebuta Matsuri (青森ねぶた祭り)
Akita: Kantou Matsuri (秋田竿灯祭り)
Iwate: Morioka Sansa Matsuri (盛岡さんさ祭り)
Yamagata: Hanagasa Matsuri (花笠祭り)
Miyagi: Sendai Tanabata Matsuri (仙台七夕祭り)
Fukushima: Waraji Matsuri (福島わ)

Here in the order they were taken are the pics I took. I shall also add a few pics scammed from my friends.

I started off solo and watched a juggler make a balloon monkey in a coconut tree.

I left and sought out my friend when he began a mime routine.

  

First act was from (insert name here, cuz I'm not sure). Pretty good dancing.

My friend Joe and I were inducted into the dance troupe and a random stranger took some photos with his camera.

This is the t-shirt I wore, given to me by a friend for whom it is too small. It's a tad snug on me as well but that didn't stop some ladies from complimenting me on it.

I know these guys and gals are from Sendai, rocking the Sparrow dance.

This next troupe was from (once again, I dunno. I should have kept track).

Their hats do look like the mushrooms from Mario though.
If memory serves me correctly, the next gang are from Akita.

We hooked up with a few other pals and head over to the parade site. We had a very choice vantage point, except for the few seniors who nudged their way in front of us.

Several Tanabata banners were hung along the parade route. What I like about these ones as opposed to the ones at the actual Star Festival, there were NO corporate sponsors showing off their banners.

  

  

Not sure who these gals were, I suspect they were winners of a Ms. Sendai Pageant.

We now got a rerun of the very routines we witnessed earlier, though this time much closer up.

After this we wandered over to the main stage at Nishi Koen (Park) where things were beginning to wind down.

My computer has decided to slow down to a crawl and it's approaching bedtime, so I'll end this for now and continue tomorrow. Hopefully someone will be able to fill in the blanks on the dancers I saw. Also I hope to add some videos as well.