玉取祭（玉せせり）

玉取祭は、俗に「玉せせり」といい、全日本に知られる祭りです。起源は、諸説あって定かではないが、昔から、午後一時玉洗式で洗い浄められた玉は、恵美須神社に運ばれました。



New Year festival at Hakozaki Shrine, near my school, where stalls were lined up like pasar malam (we had overpriced takoyaki and ume-mochi) and at 1pm, there's this competition where a round metal ball is fought over by men wearing only underwear in the dead of winter with water being splashed over them for an added measure of insanity. Apparantly its all done in the name of luck, hence the dogged dogfight.





Matsuri's always fun. Chihiro was working part time as a miko selling trinkets but because of the crowd, I didnt get to see her in her hakama outfit. 残念！