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Tsukimi (The Full Moon) Festival

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Yesterday I had the pleasure of performing in a Full Moon Festival in Hashima, a small town just outside of Gifu.  Modern Dance You Co. performed a small, relaxed dance that featured a kid's number to a song about onigiri (rice balls), Sachiko as the princess from the moon, and the rest of us as kunoichi, or female ninjas.  This is the year of the rabbit by the Chinese zodiac, so the two little girls were dressed as rabbits, and had a very important role in taking the princess back to her home on the moon.  It was adorable, and quite a lot of fun.

Rie teaches me how to take tea.
We spent the day at the cultural center getting ready for the performance.  We were able to take a break before the show started, and we went upstairs to take part in the tea ceremony.  There were manju decorated like rabbits and delicious bowls of macha, otherwise known as green tea.  I couldn't eat the manju, because although some people will swear it contains no wheat, I have not found a kind yet that is gluten-free.  This type was the closest, made with rice flour, but still probably thickened with wheat for that special manju character.  I gave mine to Rie, after tasting a little of the red bean paste inside.  It was delicious!

Below is our wonderful group, just before going onstage.  We're all wearing different obi, like I wore to the dance festival in Shirotori.  I tied my own and it was so much fun!  Unfortunately you can't see the bow here, so you'll have to take my word for the fact that it was great.  I don't have video of our performance at this point, but perhaps something will show up in the future.

Back, L-R: Nadeshiko, Mako, me, Rie, Saori; Front, L-R: Sachiko, the little rabbits, Shio.
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