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A HBC contributor has sent us images from the Syunka Matsuri. Unfortunately she know nothing about the festival. We are not sure what Synuka means. Persumably it is a town or village with a shrine or temple. A reader tells us that Syunka is in Chiba Prefefecture. Hoefully our Japanese readers will be able to provide us some information on this festival. It seems to involve horses or perhaps a bull (fugure 1). Or perhaps it is a dragon, notice the head on tops. Note the symbol on the side of black animal. I'm not sure what that means. One costumed boy here even wears blinkers.
A Japanese reader tells us, "In Japan, we have several traditional schools (ecole in French) of flower arrangement. One of the leader of these schools, Mr. Shungetu Nakamura, holds his exhibition under the name of "Syunka Matsuri".
'Syunka' means Spring and Summer, and 'Matsuri' means festival, so to say his private exhibition."
He also tells us, "The photograph here is the scene of our New Year festival 'Shishi-Mai'. The participants are praying for perpetual fertility at the beginning of the new year (O-Shougatsu ). Shishi comes to our house, and sometimes comes in a Tatami Room to play their traditional dance. We pay some money for the players (usually two men in the costume). We can have this “Shishi-Mai” in rural areas of Japan still to this day. The Shishi is an imaginary animal like a lion (we never have had lions in Japan), and Mai is the dance for praying in front of Gods. Some time we call Shishi-Mai as Shishi-Matsuri, so your contributor is a little confused." [Keisuke]
Fujioka Keisuke. E-mail message, September 25, 2008.
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