Princesses and Cherry Blossoms

The roof of Sakura added a nice bit of atmosphere to the festival
On the weekend after teaching my Sunday class I headed out to Kiga, Hosoe to watch the hime sama douchu matsuri. This was my second time going to the festival but I still managed to really enjoy it. I always enjoy going to the Japanese festivals or special events. There is always a sort of carnival atmosphere, probably I get that feeling seeing all the food kiosks or the children happily scooping goldfish.

We started out by going to a nice Unagi restaurant called Hikifune, then we had to move our car about 2 kms out of the way to park. From there we could catch a shuttle bus back to the festival.
On the walk from the shuttle bus I saw something I hadn't seen before, they have built a recreation of the checkpoint that used to stand on the Hime sama road in eras past. It was quite lovely and a nice touch - last time I had gone, I was looking for the original checkpoint that had been destroyed a long time ago, and all I could find was a small sign.
We sat along the main pathway and enjoyed the viewing of the cherry blossoms- or hanami. Actually for me, I have always been a people watcher so I took in the crowd and the view and chatted with my students. It was very relaxing.
Finally the parade found its way onto the path and we could see the princess. She actually is not a real princess, every year there is a contest for a young lady to play the role, but I was impressed, the young lady smiled princessly and was quite beautiful!
To cap it all off, the princess and her posse made it to the center stage and performed a lovely dance for us all to enjoy!
It was a nice afternoon.