Karatsu Kunchi

So, way back on October 3rd I went to Karatsu Kunchi, which means in English OH MY GOSH SO MANY PEOPLE!!!!!!


This is the gate to Karatsu Shrine. Karatsu is a city on the northern part of Saga, on the sea of Japan. I'm not 100% sure what Karatsu Kunchi is about, but I do know it is a massive three-day festival where people bring out 13 massive, ancient floats and parade them around the city of Karatsu. There are also portions of the festival where the people of the city open their doors and bring people in off the street for food and drinking. But, the most important thing to know is it's in Karatsu, it's on October 3rd, and there are A WHOLE BUNCH OF PEOPLE.

And food stands, too. Gotta feed all those people. So Angela and I snagged our own num nums.

OMG! LITTLE TURTLES!!! 8D SOOOO CUUUUUUUTE!!!! (And this is the point when Mary finds she is irrisitably attracted to turtles. She also thinks it's a really sad fate for a baby turtle to be put in a plastic tank with nothing but water.)

BUT, OMG, THEY ARE SO CUTE, AND ON THE ROCK THEY LOOK LIKE <3

Anyway, this is what Karatsu Kunchi is known for: it's really old, really gorgeous floats. There are 13 of them, and they each represent one district of Karatsu. And the newest one is, I believe, 300 years old. Yyyyeaaaaah. They're cool.

And there's the other bunch.

Did I mention there were a lot of people there?


Well... there were a lot of people there.

This is the most famous float of them all-- the Koi. It's the one you see on all the posters for Karatsu-Kunchi, and apparently it's going for a tour of Good Will through China. It's pretty pretty, in my opinion.

So Angela and I decided to go have a look-see at my favorite float, the Dragon Fish.

Here it is.

It's getting closer.

Ba-dum. Ba dum. Ba dum ba dum ba dum! It's going to eat me!

AAAAAUGHAAAAHHHHHH! THE HORROR! THE PAIN! IT'S GOING TO EAT THAT WOMAN'S HAND!!!!!!!!!

It was a pretty awesome day.

Here's the back of one of the Lion Dog floats. Oh my gosh, the hair! It looked pretty fantastic, like Yubaba from Spirited Away-- my favorite character. And, Look! It keeps children tucked away in it's hair! Fantastic.

More secret shots of the float's behinds and underparts.

They keep drums hidden under there.

More Dragon Fish. Good golly, I love it.

This is our group. We kind of met each other, wandered through the festival, got lost, bumped into each other again, wandered off, and so on and so forth. It was pretty fun.

Then me and the girls went to find a nice hide-y place to get away from the crowds and relax.

And watch the fish float swim over the roof tops.

Swim, swim, swim in the sea!

Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming!

Overall, it was a pretty fantastic festival. Lots of walking, lots of crowds, lots of festival food, and my favorite, hanging out on an old stone wall watching the floats float over the rooves. Excellent time, girls.

Cheers!