Nerdtour 2012: Asakusa Matsuri pt. 2

man being carried in bucket waving and smiling at the crowd

As promised, here are some more pictures from the Asakusa matsuri parade of historic (and fictional) people in the clothes from those times.

group of kids in historic costumes, some holding ropes
Hm, kids pulling ropes? And kids with swords and helmets? Hm.
kids pulling a float representing a construction stone with a man on top
Ah, the project is to haul the big rock. And the guy up top is obviously the project lead, who’s “helping the team.” I’ve been on projects like that…

parade members in various forms of armor, led by a samurai in full battle gear
I believe these next are from the “Warring States” periods, the many civil war-type eras that the Japanese went through before being unified over the islands. Lots of swords and armor.
You don't mess with the 3 red spot regiment!
You don’t mess with the 3 red spot regiment!

Man in full ancient Japanese armor
One of the “don’t mess with me, and don’t call me fat!” men.
Two men in armor riding in a float
These guys are either more important or less bad-ass, since they’re riding…

two men on float in Japanese armor, waving to the crowd
So, the one guy in armor is looking at me and not waving anymore…
man in Japanese armor led by a man in armor holding a large golden fan on a pole
One thing about the generals or whoever they are, they were outcompeting each other on the style of helmets.

close-up of man in Japanese armor with a helmet with large black horns
This guy’s helmet looks like a cross between a stag beetle and a deer’s antlers.
men carrying old style guns
Now, once gunpowder and guns were introduced from China, the armor became less useful, and “musketeers” started showing up.

Man in uniform with more modern helmet and no armor
This guy’s helmet is a bit more functional
parade members carrying swords by the end of the case instead of by the sword handle
Not sure why the swords are being carried upside-down, but it’s likely symbolic.

two men carrying a man riding in a large bucket who is smiling and waving at the crowd. the bucket is on wheels
So, this guy is rich enough to have guys carrying him, but not rich enough to ride in anything other than a bucket! (yes I see the wheels, but the other two guys are still pushing him!)
man being carried in bucket waving and smiling at the crowd
Yeah, if I was being carried for the parade I’d be happy too!

four people dressed in period costumes portraying characters from the "Mito Komon" TV show
Characters from a long-running period TV show called “Mito Komon”, where the old guy is a member of the Tokugawa shogun family. You can find out more about him on Wikipedia
characters from "Mito Komon"
Characters from “Mito Komon”

Men in samurai kimono
Samurai from the Edo period, I think…

And now, because no one demanded it, more men in straw hats!

Men carrying an enclosed chair for important people
Due to the economic downturn, the straw hat budget was drastically cut. The stripes budget was untouched…

More later!

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