The Festival Of 10,000 Lanterns

 

Every once in a while, Japan so wildly exceeds expectations, it’s hard to put it into words, so I’ll just show you pictures of last night’s Oeshiki Ikegami festival instead.

Strong men twirling pikes announcing the names of their temples danced through the streets ahead of their lanterns.

Every lantern was different. This one was fantastically decorated in gold.

Intricately constructed wooden models of each participating temple glowed with inner light, festooned with garlands of paper flowers.

Some were dramatically lit so they alternated light and dark.

Look at the colored lanterns on the eaves of this one!

The hits just kept on coming, as the lanterns were paraded through the streets of Ikegami, wending their way to the temple where famed Buddhist monk Nichiren breathed his last.

Even the streets were lined with pink lanterns as far as the eye could see.

Not surprisingly, a festival of 10,000 lanterns also attracts thousands and thousands of people. This is the view from the stairs you climb to get to the temple.

But not all was sweetness and light: at the base of the stairs, we suddenly encountered a frighteningly large police presence in a glaring pool of light. Apparently, crowds of people eating and drinking and making merry can turn ugly fast. Parked in an adjacent shadowy street were rows of detention buses, ready to cart away arrestees if things went south.

Jonelle Patrick is the author of the Only In Tokyo mystery series, published by Penguin/Intermix. Special thanks go to Tokyobling’s Blog, where I learned about this fantastic festival. I suggest taking a look at his posts, because he takes gorgeous pictures and explains what’s going on better than I can. If you’re in Tokyo at the right time and would like to go to the Oeshiki Ikegami festival, directions and a map are on my website, The Tokyo Guide I Wish I’d Had.