The Japanese also play hard, and some of the biggest, most labor-intensive parties take place in the street during traditional festivals. The fall festival in the city of Takayama, where our daughter teaches English, is one of the most spectacular.
Takayama’s festival is famous for its yatai, some of which are 300 years old. Yatai are elaborately carved and richly decorated three story wooden wagons. People ride in the wagons, and many have small groups of children on board, playing traditional Japanese flutes and drums.
Unlike our floats, yatai are not mechanized. They don’t have steering wheels. Instead they are pulled through the streets by elaborately costumed teams. This is where the effort comes in, for yatai weigh several tons and they are not easy to steer or to turn.
The two-day fall festival in Takayama involves 11 yatai. On the opening morning, the yatai are parked on display near the festival’s home Shinto shrine. In the early afternoon, a small cohort are paraded through the street for several hours. Then in the evening, all 11, decorated from top to bottom with lighted lanterns, are pulled through the town.
To do so, the members of their teams have different jobs. Some march in front, pulling the yatai with thick ropes. Other crew members hover near the front of the wagon, serving as human brakes when needed. Still other team members march behind. At least one or two fellows use thick wooden posts to steer the wagon from the front and back and correct its course as it moves down the street.
The yatai pause when they come to a corner. In order to make the sharp turn, the yatai must be tilted and oblique wheels lowered. Then the team grabs onto the float and, pushing altogether, rotates it 90 degrees. The spare wheels are retracted, and the float is set back on regular wheels. Then the arduous pulling, braking, and steering resumes.
Those who ride on the yatai can also have challenging jobs, for some wagons are so tall that they will not pass under the electric wires that hang over the street. We watched one grey-haired gentleman climb up on the third story roof with long stick to lift the wire so that the elaborate golden phoenixes adorning the roof did not catch on the wires.
Clearly, it requires a lot of effort to have fun in Japan!