Day four of the Susukino festival 2014

The last day of the Susukino festival the weather was actually good, and we had quite a lot of people at our place. Some of my friends showed up, though not wearing yukata this time. Some people that I used to meet a lot in the magic bar but that I have not seen recently also showed up, which was a lot of fun.

Me in the middle of some magic trick

I did a lot of magic for kids passing by, and for the people stopping by at our tables. I even did magic for a father and his son where we could not communicate at all. They spoke neither English nor Japanese, and I don't speak Chinese. They seemed to like the magic anyway. I chose tricks that would probably be understandable even without understanding the explanation.

Magician colleague being stabbed with a very colorful sword

The last day also had yosakoi. There were also omikoshi, mobile shrines. Japanese festivals often mean that the people from the shrines or temples take a mobile part of the shrine and run around with it. This is apparently to give the gods a tour of the city, so they do not get bored by just staying in the shrine or temple itself.

Omikoshi floating in a sea of people

Cat with a hat

This year a fight broke out between a guy who had left one temple or shrine for another and that possibly tried to get in the way of the old group's omikoshi (or maybe he wanted to join them and help them). It ended with some people holding one guy and another guy then elbowing him in the face, which looked pretty painful. Religious people are the only people i have seen being violent in Japan. I am told this kind of thing happens a lot with the omikoshi.

Yosakoi