The essence of a festival is the enjoyment of the people around and the atmosphere surrounding it. The Shingen ko festival is there to celebrate Takeda Shingen, the feudal lord of Kai province during the warring state period (1568-1603). The festival commemorates his legacy and reenacts the deployment of warriors marching toward the Battle of Kawanakajima to fight Uesugi Kenshin, a rival warlord to the north. As a student studying abroad, I attended the festival and this is what it was like for me.
Friday night was the official start of the festival as the fireworks show started at 7pm. I saw people from all over walking all the way to the historical site of Kofu Castle, which is usually a nice park most of the year filled with people patiently waiting for the lights. I was extremely uninterested in the stalls they had since the lines were so long. My disappointment faded as the fireworks, hanabi matsuri, started. Hana means flower and I understood why up close as the fireworks bloomed like one.
Saturday was the busiest day I have ever seen in Kofu, as the city was swarming with tourists, many local Japanese and foreign tourists including me. From a glance however it would not be as obvious. For this day, I decided to wear the kimono I had bought earlier in the week.
Due to some misunderstandings and an elderly saleslady, I ended up buying a kimono on Thursday, surprisingly enough at a Don Quixote, aka Donki, which has everything you could ever need. My excitement was akin to going on a Target run in the U.S. only wanting one thing and instead leaving with a haul. Later in the day, I learned to wear a kimono after some practice and help from the shopkeeper and some japanese friends. There were many layers for the kimono which was nice later in the night. It is meaningful for me that I learned to do it, but for others it might be easier to buy a yukata, as it only has one layer. Overall my experience with the kimono was not awful but my movements were restricted and sitting was difficult.
The parade started at 3 p.m. My friends and I stood for around two hours walking around the main route and saw many platoons of foot soldiers , and samurai were on horses usually in front. It was possible for outsiders to join in the parade if they were a student at ICLA. From the looks of it, for students who participated it was either really fun or extremely taxing as they had to wear the suits of armor for 12 hours. I could never do it, I do not have the mental or physical fortitude for that sort of activity.
While fun for a while I was getting very hangry and I needed food. We walked to the main street of the festival stands, food trucks and occasionally were stopped due to samurai on horseback crossing the street. An interesting sight to see in the 21st century. For dinner I ate Korean BBQ chicken with spicy chicken in a cup. The spicy chicken hit the right spot and was crunchy; it is difficult to get spicy food here. I was full from the chicken but I decided to get something else. I was eyeing this cheese waffle pastry. When I bought it, I was surprised by how sweet and light the inside was. This was a great meal to end the night.
On Sunday, Yamanashi Gakuin University had their own festival during the weekend. I visited many food stalls and some had food from Vietnam, China and Indonesia. My favorites included a Vietnamese Banh mi and Chinese Pork Char siu respectively as they were the most filling dishes. Banh mi is a very nostalgic dish for me so I was happy to have some. The Char siu was very filling and moist as they used pork fat in the soup and the pork roast as well. Various performances were held all over the school. I noticed students dressing up like maids, cosplays from various anime and people dressed up as mascots like Ronald Mcdonald and a cute bunny vying for attention. Overall, it was an amazing event and people should experience it at least once.
Photo by: Ben Diamond
