1. The outline
On every third Saturday and Sunday of
May, we are supposed to have an Aoba
Matsuri, our local spring festival, in
Sendai. This festival consists of largely
two parts, Yoi Matsuri and Hon
Matsuri.
At the Yoi Matsuri held on Saturday,
Suzume Odori (sparrow dance) contest is
held. Suzume Odori is a traditional dance
of Sendai. Many groups takes part in the
contest and they show their original
dances.
The main event of Hon Matsuri held on
Sunday is a historical pageant. You can
see more than many Samurai (warriors) 11
Yamaboko (festival cars), and people who
are dancing Suzume Odori.
Recently, Aoba Matsuri is more and more
popular, and as shown in Figure.1, a stamp
of Aoba Matsuri is sold from May 18th
2001.
2. The brief history
In Edo period, the biggest festival of
the Sendai clan was Sendai Matsuri. This
festival had been held on every 17th
September at Toshogu shrine since Shoo 4
(1655). People walked around the downtown
with about 70 Yamaboko.
In Meiji period, Aoba Matsuri was held on
May 24th, the anniversary of Date
Masamune's death, at Aoba shrine, instead
of Sendai Matsuri. Date Masamune was the
most powerful lord in Tohoku area. In
commemoration of the 250th and 300th
anniversary of Date Masamune's death, Aoba
Matsuri was held grandly with many
Yamaboko in Meiji 18 (1885) and Showa 10
(1935), respectively. However, this
festival was put a stop to in the problem
of the traffic circumstance in the meddle
of Showa 40's (about 1965). In Showa 60
(1985), Aoba Matsuri was restored with the
great hope of the citizen for
commemorating the 350th anniversary of the
Date Masamune's death. Recently, it is
taken as the one of 3 big festivals of
Sendai.
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- Figure.1
A stamp of Aoba Matsuri. 3 sparrow
dancers and 1 Yamaboko are seen in this
stamp.
3. Suzume Odori
Sore! Sore! Sore-sore-sore. . .
piiiiiiii! And as the flute begins, the
oo-daiko (big drum) joins, boom!, and
there is no way to stop our legs. We
sparrows take off into a messy dance, the
Suzume Odori. Our feet jump to the right,
pyong-pyong, then to the left,
pyong-pyong, while our arms wave the fans
up and down, down and up, like feathers
fluttering. A kane (the percussion bell)
tings, tink-ki-tink-ki-tink. . . The
ko-daiko (small drums) keep the rhythm,
toom-popr-po-poom!, toom-popr-po-poom!
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