It's summer. There are few birds around Fukuoka. Time to go see something else. Like the rice planting festival at the Nobara Hachimangu shrine in Kumamoto pref.
Locals and their children gather at the shrine, where traditional music is played. Dancers wearing masks and clad in colorful costumes entertain the crowd.
The main part is the ceremonial rice planting, performed by ladies wearing "kasuri" cotton farmers outfits that have been around for 100s of years. They drag their feet through the mud and push the seedlings of rice plants deep in the mud.
It's a back-breaking task. Thank god for those planting machines that farmers use nowadays.
5th graders pitching in (practicing their English with me on the go)
Inside the shrine,
an artist's impression of the matsuri
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