Gamagori Fireworks Festival

Takeshima, at low tide.

Every year, on the last day of July, a big fireworks festival is held in Gamagori, Japan.  Fireworks are very big in Japan, with each major city priding itself on its particular display, and swearing up and down to anyone who will listen that their fireworks are the best in the nation.  Gifu's displays were canceled this year because of the earthquake, so we took the opportunity to travel a little more than an hour by express train to Gamagori.  It's a cute little town, not far from Okazaki, with a famous island that is entirely shrine space (seen in the picture to the right).

It was a wonderful, if long, day.  Four of us set out from Gifu and picked two more friends up on the way to the island.  We arrived early, perhaps too early, but we did miss the worst of the afternoon sun as we wandered around the island.  Even though I was very diligent about my SPF 50 sunblock, I still managed to get burned on both shoulders before the morning was over.  If someone asks me where the sun is stronger, Japan or America, my answer will unequivocally be Japan.  SPF 50!  I'm giving up.

The shrine entrance.

Since it was low tide, we walked on the sand under the bridge to the island.  We saw many shell-dwellers crawling about in the tide pools, and glistening purple mother-of-pearl shells.  We reached the island and climbed up to the shrine complex, the first part seen in the photo to the left.  There were four smaller shrines and one main shrine, along with a statue garden.  It was very peaceful, although the cicadas were going crazy so we could barely hear each other.  We rang a bell, performed the traditional prayer rites, and moved on along the mountain.

Buddhas?  Sages?  Making "scary" faces.

As we climbed and took breaks here and there, looking out over the water to various islands, we noticed little lizards scampering about.  They were beautiful, with iridescent blues and greens running down their little bodies.  Most of them were shy, hiding in the rocks or disappearing instantly as soon as we'd spot them, but one big lizard decided he didn't care about us at all.  Maybe it was because he was so big, he'd already proven himself alpha to everything else.  He was quick too, but he decided to climb up the rocks from the sandy beach to where we stood looking at him, before crossing the path and disappearing into the woods.  He gave us quite a nice photo op.       

The photo to the right shows a natural rock formation with a stone lantern on it.  This little structure is just barely visible in the first picture of the island to the far right.  I think at high tide the waters come in around the rocks, although we were not able to confirm this theory, because at high tide we were watching fireworks from the main beach.  I really enjoyed this particular statue - everything about it is interesting and unique - and the Coloradan in me jumped right out on the rocks for a small bouldering experience.

The girls playing on the rocks.

After our baby hike, we returned to the mainland for snacks and karaoke.  As mentioned, we arrived early in the day, and had a lot of time to spend before the fireworks.  Since the morning left us sunburned already, we had no desire to stay outdoors for the high heat, intensely sunny afternoon.  After karaoke, it was much cooler outside, with no direct sunlight!  As we had about an hour and a half before fireworks, we walked back to the beach, passing food vendors and crowds of people trying to park their cars.  It was just like the Fourth of July in America that way.  We bought tacos (tacos!), soba, traditional pork-wrapped rice balls, white chocolate-covered bananas, and took our feast to the waterfront.  Yes, that's our view, pictured to the left.  We ate, talked, and waited for the fireworks.  Night falls earlier in Japan than in America - it was dark enough for fireworks by 7:30 - and so even though the display was ONE AND A HALF HOURS long, we were done by 9!  Afterwards, getting home was crazy, with people everywhere in the streets, trying to drive and getting nowhere, stuffing into the stations... but it was worth it.  We did manage to get seats on the way home, too, which was great.      

It's time for the fireworks display!  Above is the best picture I took of a beautiful one over the water.  Below are two representative videos.  The one farthest to the left shows more fireworks over the water.  This is the angle we saw most fireworks from.  It was pretty magical seeing them reflected in the water.  The second video, to the right, is a short special firework from a boat that went off three times, marking the three sections of the show.  Each giant firework was different than the last, but they all had the same basic flow: one firework shot up four times, then vanished, and opened up in a huge spectacular shower.  These were bigger than anything I'd ever seen in the States, but then again I lived in little Midwestern towns that did not have the budget for fireworks like this.  Enjoy!