The festival was at the biggest Shinto shrine in Kochi City. We took the tram from Rob and Marian’s house near Denki Dynamite and got off in front of the Mos Burger. From there we followed the crowds across the red bridge toward the temple.

The temple lay at the end of a small alley. Food stalls were set up along the length of the alley, selling everything from goldfish to fried octopus. There were even some Turks from Kobe selling kebabs. I ate one but it was mostly fat and not very good. The giant Japanese wiener, on the other hand, was delicious.

The heat inside the alley was almost unbearable. Fan as I might, I just couldn’t keep the sweat from dripping. At some points the crowd was so thick I couldn’t move at all. And this was just a small, everyday festival.

Once inside the temple grounds the atmosphere changed considerably. There was room to move and cool air to breath. Pine trees towered overhead and paper lanterns lit with candles gave the only light.

The festival basically involved walking in a figure eight pattern around some grass set up as a gateway. It was for good luck for couples. Nancy and I held hands as we walked the figure eight, then went and got some shaved ice to help cool down.

After that we hit the road. Said goodbye to our last Japanese festival for a long time.