Takayama Spring Festival at Night

So much about this trip catches us by surprise.  What's the big deal here?  One night a year, (April 14, whatever day of the week that falls on) the farming village of Takayama pulls out all the stops for their Spring Festival and night parade.  I'm thinking "Winter Park Christmas Parade."  Boy, was I off base.   At dusk we walk to the main street to find a place to stand and wait, which we do - not so patiently.

Much ado. Around the corner come some two-person puppet/dragons, some flute players, some official looking fellows and then.... oh! That's what they mean by float!  Some of these floats are 100s of years old and with no motors so teams pull them with ropes. The ages of the pullers range from about 5 to maybe 85 year-olds. The wheels have fixed axles so turning them around our corner spot is quite a project.

Flutes, drums, families, lights, fun.  What a night.  Yes, standing made Steve's legs swell up like balloons, but we stay tonight at a fantastic hot spring bath style inn, sleeping on the floor, bathing in the hot springs mineral water constantly flowing through the tub.  Ahh.  All things strange.