Hamamatsu Festival (3) - Gorgeous palace floats

I came back to downtown from the kite field around 16:00. I saw some floats on the main street Kaji-machi Dori. They are called Goten Yatai, which means a palace float. But they originate from carts used to carry kites to the kite field. Now they are decorated with fine wood carvings and lanterns.

During the festival, floats like these were drawn on this street from 18:30 to 21:00. This year, about 81 neighborhoods participated in it with their float. On the previous day, May 4, I took some pictures of them at night. The lanterns were lit, and there were girls and women sitting inside and playing the drum, flute, and shamisen. In many cases, such music groups mainly consist of elementary school girls.

There came floats one after another, with people from respective neighborhood. With lanterns lit, they looked so gorgeous. On the other side of the street, they could see floats going to the opposite direction. As this was the float of a neighborhood that located west of downtown, it went westward.

Usually, the melodies played in the floats are those of traditional short songs. You can hear it by searching with “Hamamatsu Festival night” in YouTube, for example. At the same time, you may also hear a distinctive melody played by buglers around the floats. This unusual mixture of sound is one of the uniqueness of Hamamatsu Festival. With the bugle melody, people jostle each other, becoming more and more excited. Hamamatsu Festival is a festival of the people, by the people, for the people. Participants enjoy themselves all day long for three days.