Halloween (and beyond) dilemmas...

After having witnessed, in dismay, the local children's Halloween parade yesterday, I cannot but vividly recommend this useful video to their parents.

Actually, I recommend it to the moms of all Japanese little boys & young men, regardless of their age and whether it's Halloween or not... There you are. ";oP


How To Find A Masculine Halloween Costume For Your Effeminate Son




(Link stolen from Mark Simpson's post "Halloween Dilemmas", with thanks.)

Tsukimi

Tsukimi / Moon-Viewing:

Celebrating the first full moon of Autumn

Imaihara, Nagano

14th September 2008

Taiko

Oni-daiko / Demon Drum Dance

Iwakubi, Sado Island

September 2007

Percussion is generally agreed to have been the world's first form of instrumental music, and in Asia especially, drums have a long history of functions beyond simple entertainment. In ancient times, the territory of a Japanese village was defined by the area in which a drum beaten at an agreed spot was audible, and the sound of the drum was the signal used to call inhabitants together. Even today the custom still survives in remote places, and every country festival features an element of taiko, in which both adults and youngsters take it in turns to pound large, deep-toned drums with short, thick, heavy drumsticks.

Angus Waycott, Sado: Japan's Island in Exile (Berkeley, CA: Stone Bridge Press, 1996), p. 122.

Earth Celebration 2008 (2)

Miokuri: Kodo's rousing send-off at Ogi Port

Earth Celebration 2008

Sado Island

25 August 2008

Earth Celebration 2008 (1)

Kodo Rehearsal Hall

Kodo Village, Sado Island

Earth Celebration 2008

24 August