Neighbourhood

Having only been in my new neighbourhood for a month, I still feel very much on the periphery and unable to adequately represent what makes it a neighbourhood, especially visually. So I have chosen an event at which community spirit was on display to the onlooker (if you could get over the heat and the crowds and the excitement caused when the floats had to turn corners); Kishiwada's Danjiri festival. If you are interested in knowing more about the festival itself I found this website informative, although I can't vouch for it's accuracy, and you really need to experience a Danjiri festival to make any sense of it, if you can! Floats (or danjiris) are pulled through the streets by sheer manpower, each danjiri representing a town in the neighbourhood and preceded by their banner or staff, with all the members wearing a 'uniform' called happi; the idea being that they outdo each other in speed and courage, accompanied by chants and musicplayed on the floats themselves. The thing that struck me most was that everyone is involved in some way, from the elderly to the tiniest kids, who generally pull at the front of the ropes, and nearly every spectator is decked out to support their town or favourite danjiri; even dogs are dressed up in happi for the day.The number of people and floats was amazing, and the amount of organisation it must have taken would have been immense; as I gathered from the meeting that preceeded the floats, representatives of each town played a part in that organisation, collaborating together as equals (suggested by the circle that they form). Whether you are the priveleged carpenter that gets to ride the danjiri, the policeman that patrols the street or the guy that brings the refreshments, you are working towards this idea of 'harmony' that the Japanese seem so keen to represent. Having said that, the whole event is geared towards competition between neighbouring towns, with a sense of trying to outdo each other. Perhaps the harmony then is expressed between the existing social groups in each town who share an identity. The festival is a great way to get all neighbouring groups together, and to involve everyone in the community - not just a prayer for an abundant harvest but a celebration of neighbourhood to be enjoyed by all.