Atami Gigi Kenban 【Dance of Flowers in Yumemachi】 A place where geisha practice rigorously, geigi kenban. The current building was completed in 1954 (Showa 29)). It was a magnificent building at the time, and it was said to be the best geisha union in the Tokai. Currently, this is the venue for the "Yumemachi no Dori Flower Dance" every Saturday and Sunday. Please enjoy professional dances that you can not usually see. It is the beauty of the way the kimono is dressed, the way it behaves, and the sighs. Address: 〒413-0015 Shizuoka Prefecture Atami City Chuo-cho 17-13 (along Hatsukawa) Phone number: 0557-81-3575 (Atami Gigi Kenban) Access: From JR Atami Station, take a bus bound for Momijigaoka for about 10 minutes →Shimizu Town get off Date & Time: Every Saturday and Sunday 11 a.m. ~ (about 30 minutes) 1 performance only Price: 2500 yen (tax included) * Free for elementary school students and younger Parking/None (there is a municipal toll P nearby) * Reservation priority * For rehearsal tours other than Saturdays and Sundays, please contact us. * There is a temporary cancellation

I would be happy if you could experience "Honmamon" by appreciating the traditional performing arts of Japan on the stage, which is a comprehensive art. Traditional Japanese performing arts, By appreciating the stage, which is comprehensive art from,"Honmamon"(the real thing) it would be great if you could experience.

Japan has not only natural beauty but also it has very rich cultural events and festival. Few days ago I attended Ikebukoro Yasakoi dance festival. It was really amazing. May be better to say I was amused to see the dance. Hope next year all the page member could attend this event. Location: Ikebukoro

The Oi Shrine Grand Festival is also called the "Obi Festival" and is a festival in which the god of Oi Shrine returns to the old shrine site (inn) once every three years. Today, for three days including the second Sunday in October, a gorgeous festival is held in the town of Shimada where dainu, daimyo processions, Kashima odori, street stall dances from 1st Avenue to 5th Avenue, and ground dances are held. Especially on the last day, all of them form a large procession together with the mikoshi procession, and they slowly parade for a whole day for a round trip of about 4 km from Oi Shrine to the inn. Due to the appearance and swing of the dainu at this time, as well as the unique form of Kashima Odori, the obi festival has come to be counted as one of the three strange festival in Japan. In addition, since the Edo period, first-class entertainers from Edo have been invited to choreographed dances in each town, Nagauta, and shamisen, and Nagauta in particular is also called "Nagauta Festival" because the iemoto of each school competed for throat.

Some more photos from Asukayama Park! The first monument is a bit difficult for me to read so I had to do a bit of research, but it seems to be a commemorative monument signifying the planting of various trees throughout the park to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Meiji Restoration, and as such, was constructed in 1968, so it's about 50 years old, probably one of the newer monuments of its kind within the park. When I was walking back around the area I saw the dance stage from a different angle and managed to take a photo of the participants through a nice gap in the trees. There were a lot more participants this time so I stopped and watched it for a little while again. At the other end of the park I found this statue of a woman which is actually a statue of the "Goddess of peace" and it was erected in 1974 to wish for world peace and happiness. Even cooler, it was erected by the famous sculptor Seibo Kitamura who erected the "Peace Statue" at Peace Memorial Park in Nagasaki. Really cool to see his works all the way in Tokyo as well!

Went to Asukayama Park near Oji Station yesterday. I've passed by the area many times and seen the gondola leading to the top but never knew what was up there until now. It's a really big park dedicated to Shibusawa Eiichi, known as the father of capitalism in Japan. The park has a bunch of monuments and cultural properties to check out so I managed to take a lot of photos and I'll be uploading them over the next few days. I chose a good day to go it seems too, as there was an event going on. It involved some traditional dances (I think from the Oji area), and it involved some sort of sash that kind of reminded me of a kimono obi, but I'm not sure exactly what it is. They had a taiko drum as well but it seems I didn't make it in time to watch them playing, I only heard it in the distance when I was walking to the park. I thought it was really cool seeing all the different monuments though. Many of them were several hundred years old and the Japanese on them was also and older form, so it was hard for me to read a lot of them lol. It was a really enjoyable experience though, so I'll upload some more photos tomorrow!

Ancient times (秋思祭)

Kabuki dance performance: from Renshi Dancer: Dancer (from Kametsuruya Event) 2014 photo: ATZSHI HIRATZKA Canon 5d3 , 24-70mm f2.8 L

Kabuki dance performance: from Renshi Dancer: Dancer (from Kametsuruya Event) 2014 photo: ATZSHI HIRATZKA Canon 5d3 , 24-70mm f2.8 L

Kabuki dance performance: from Renshi Dancer: Dancer (from Kametsuruya Event) 2014 photo: ATZSHI HIRATZKA Canon 5d3 , 24-70mm f2.8 L

Kabuki dance performance: from Renshi Dancer: Sennosuke Wakatsuki 2014 photo: ATZSHI HIRATZKA Canon 5d3 , 24-70mm f2.8 L

Kabuki dance performance: from Renshi Dancer: Dancer (from Kametsuruya Event) 2014 photo: ATZSHI HIRATZKA Canon 5d3 , 24-70mm f2.8 L

Kabuki dance performance: from Renshi Dancer: Sennosuke Wakatsuki 2014 photo: ATZSHI HIRATZKA Canon 5d3 , 24-70mm f2.8 L

Kabuki dance performance: Scene of the ceremony from the dressing room Dancer: Sennosuke Wakatsuki 2014 photo: ATZSHI HIRATZKA Canon 5d3 , Zeiss 50mm f1.4

Kabuki dance performance: from Renshi Dancer: Sennosuke Wakatsuki 2014 photo: ATZSHI HIRATZKA Canon 5d3 , 24-70mm f2.8 L