Up In Arms! Dressing Up in Samurai Armour in Sakura, Chiba
Children's Day (kodomo no hi) has come and gone. We celebrated the festival to the fullest, eating chimaki and kashiwamochi and displaying our go-gatsu ningyo dolls and carp streamers (see my last post for details).
What made our holiday extra-special, though, was a day trip to Sakura （佐倉）, a small city about 90 minutes from Tsukuba by car, in Chiba prefecture. I always like going there for its excellent National History Museum (great permanent exhibition and fun gift shop), which I can never get enough of, and its serene, season displaying park on the site of its castle ruins (the second to last ruler of the castle,
Lord Horita, was a very important advocate of Westernization and Western learning, which lead to the expression, "Nagasaki in the West and Sakura in the East"!). On Tango no Sekku, however, there is always a special event held which is to good to pass up.
In Sakura there are 3 excellently preserved samurai residences (buke yashiki) each of different design and dimension, reflecting the previous owners rank in the strict warrior hierarchy of the Edo Period.
On May fifth, there is an event in which traditional soup is served and anyone who would like to can be dressed up in traditional armour (yoroi). Each person is dressed by 3 kimono-clad attendants!
The armour is a bit heavy, though you don't realize it until you take it off.
It is not a very well publicized event and only about 30 lucky people showed up on that day.
The atmosphere was truly festive and the staff very kind, helpful and patient.
We also received free Polaroid snapshots (I didn't know those were still around!) of ourselves dressed
in full samurai regalia!
It was also interesting to see the old Sakura High School building, which is an amazing early Showa edifice. The baseball super-legend Nagashima attended that school.
Nearby we could also stop by for some bird-watching at Lake Inba (Inba Numa)
I know you weren't there this time, but you should try to make it next year!
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