Tsurusaki Obon Festival

After Monkey Mountain we jumped on another train and headed to a nearby town called Tsurusaki which was celebrating its biggest festival for the year.We didn't really have any idea what we were off to see but could tell by the crowds of people getting off the same train that whatever it was it was popular!Basically it was like the Obon Festival we went to in Yamaga last weekend but this one was super-sized in comparison with several thousand people there both dancing and just watching. The traditional clothes both the men and women were wearing were pretty spectacular as were the unbelivably intricate craine hats they were all wearing! It was held in the town's big sports park and had a group of Taiko drummers on a big stage in the middle. Around the outsidewere the hundreds of people dancing in one gigantic circle to the beat of the drum with spectators then sitting in grandstands around the perimiter. We mighthave been super tired by the time we got in the door late that night but it was well worth the 40 minute train ride and Nathan assures me the chicken skewer he had from a little old man's stall at the festival was worth travelling twice the distance... he may have even said it was 'the best he's ever had'.