Friday 19 October 2007

Oshio Lion Dance Festival – Shishi Mai

14th October

Tonight we went to the Oshio Lion Dance Festival. The dance is to say thanks for the good harvest and pray for peace and safety of the believers. It started with many groups in circles around the lion and then the parade started. Each group would move through the torii towards the shrine with their lion, drums and flutes. Each Lion needed about 4 men to make it dance and the dancing wouldn’t stop to change men! They just changed as they were dancing! It was really amazing to watch and luckily we were invited to enter the shrine and watch from the balcony which then gave us the most amazing view!

The lion (shishi)


The beautiful lanterns


The view from the Shrine


We got to meet Miss Himeji Castle and have a photo with her!

1 comment:

Tinz said...

This was a pretty cool festival - glad we ended up going!