Day 23 - Kuki Chochin Matsuri

There's a town called Kuki, about 50 minutes north of Tokyo, that has had a festival every July 12th and 18th since 1783 where each neighborhood in town pulls a float around town during the day and then they put about 500 Japanese lanterns on each float and come together at night next to the station in front of thousands of onlookers.

They floats are super heavy and have wooden wheels that don't turn, so they have to be hoisted around corners by 20+ sweaty men. Others climb the outside like spidermen to keep all the candles lit  and several more play drums and flutes inside the floats. There were also some old men with each float who watched the wheels very closely to make sure none were about to collapse.

We lucked out and got front row seats (on buckets we found at a the 100 yen store - not bad to have front row seats for $5.50) and we happened to choose a spot right where the floats turned as they made the loop around the station parking lot. The first float looked like it would run right over us until the last second when they whistled and screamed and turned within about 2 feet of us. Later on, they spun the floats around in circles and charged each other, sometimes banging into each other at high speed.

The girls were not pleased that we had to wait so long before it started, but as soon as they almost got run over and realized how cool this was, they changed heir tune. We got home late but will always remember our front row bucket seats in Kuki.

久喜提燈祭が凄かったよ！