FIreworks at the local shrine's festival

 One of the reasons my daughter and granddaughter visited when they did was to see the fireworks at the local shrine. The display is the highpoint of the river festival, which traditionally was to ask the river gods to be nice to people during the next year - no floods, for example. One traditional part of festivals associated with water is the release of lanterns. In the past lanterns were let in the river by representatives of the families and represented the souls of the departed. The lanterns contained a candle and they were allowed to float down the river to the sea. However, this caused a lot of fires along the river banks, so now they are only allowed to go a few hundred meters down river before they are stopped by a rope and collected.

 The fireworks display was much better than I expected.

 My camera has a fireworks setting but it was dark so I could not use it.

 Not using the setting resulted in 'artistic' pictures like this.

At a flat area near the bridge and more or less in front of the shrine, they have a traditional festival with live music and dancing on a raised platform and lots of booths selling food, beer, and things for the kids. The music is provided by flutes and drums and has a very driving beat. I enjoy it, but the area is really crowded. We decided not to go there this year, considering the fireworks display to be sufficient. Tomone, my granddaughter really like it. If you are interested in the festival part, last year I took a bunch of pictures and placed them on this blog, so just go back to last August, around the middle of the month, and you will find them.