The Lights of Mino

We went to the Mino Lantern Festival for the second time last weekend.  Matt and I went with two teachers from my school.  First stop: a very beige dinner at a beautiful traditional restaurant.  It was all very delicious and I didn't get sick off of it, which was a nice change.  Still, I don't really like it when all my food is beige and soft.  Something about that just doesn't sit right.  There was, however, a great rice soup with special rice made in a traditional stove, and kaki for dessert.  The kaki, or persimmon, were crunchy and bright orange, so I ended the dinner with some color and texture, at least.  After dinner, we headed to the lanterns!  They were beautiful, and very different from last year's.  The only down side?  It rained a ton that day, so there were rain smudges all over the lantern cases.

The streets this year were very quiet.  We ran into a few other pedestrians, but nothing compared to last year.  Apparently last year we went during the "main" festival days, and this year we visited on the tail end of the exhibition.  It was a very different atmosphere: dark, sparse, and vacant.  Last year shops were open and people milled about everywhere.  It looked like a completely different town.  However, the lanterns (prize winners perhaps) all looked beautiful, and we were able to explore in peace.  The first one in this post is actually one lantern, made of four squares of material.  It looks very old-fashioned to me, like lace doilies my grandmother used to put out in her home.  The second one, to the right, is one I find absolutely stunning.  There's a motion to it as well as a simple, naturalistic beauty I find almost haunting.


This one to the left I took from top-down, in order to most accurately display this lantern's character.  It reminds me of a flower blooming, or opening again in the morning after a night's rest.  Below is a set of lanterns that remind me of... well, stages.  I'm a performer, what can I say?


There were so many amazing lanterns that for the purposes of this blog, I had to create one collage in order to fit things in efficiently.

I love all of these: the bright yellow one was fashioned like a rose, and all the petals are held together by tiny bows.  The one next to it is a surprising building-like lantern where only the first block is illuminated and the light is allowed to spread through the other layers.  Starting in the bottom left, the detailed cube held a lot of interest in how it displayed depth.  The one in the middle may as well be a chandelier (I swear it's not).  And finally, we have Ai's favorite lantern, which we nicknamed "Chuck."

The moon to the right is my other teacher's favorite.  It was even lovelier than it appears in that picture.  This particular lantern was made of various colored papers, and lit with a yellower light than some of the others.

The next one, to the left, is Matt's favorite.  We're not sure what material the string-like weaving is made from.  It could be thread, or spun paper.  The woven aspect created a fierce geometry both within and outside of the lantern. 

The final picture is of my favorite lantern.  I liked the delicate nature of it, and also the way it looks like a web or a honeycomb.  I also love the fact that it doesn't light up evenly.

Since no stores were open, we decided we'll have another outing in December, specifically to visit the lantern stores (and to have another dinner with Ai's parents like last year).  I'm excited to go back and see all the beautiful lanterns local merchants are making this year!