At the Takeyoi Matsuri the area was lighted up with many hand-carved bamboo lanterns. It was beautiful. It reminded me of Mid-Autumn Festival, where we light up the lanterns back home. I had Bunkasai in the day and only got to Usuki in the evening. I am definitely going back for a day trip.
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| Usuki is famous for Usuki Sekibutsu (Stone Buddhas) |
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| Outside the train station |
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| Wall of bamboos |
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| I like the blue lights... |
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| Beautiful designs |
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| Interesting structure... |
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| Takeyoi Usuki |
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| The only good blur picture I took of the procession |
Legend of the Usuki Takeyoi...
Thousands of years ago, there was a beautiful girl in Usuki named Hanyahime. She was famous for her beauty and kindness. The people who served the emperor heard the story of the beautiful girl, and relayed it to the Emperor. Soon, a request from the Emperor for the princess to marry the emperor’s son was brought, but her parents did not want her to get married. They felt that if she got married, she wouldn’t be their daughter anymore-which was most likely the case because the wives were often swallowed up into the husband’s family, especially the Emperor’s family. In an attempt to appease him, Hanyahime’s parents sent a box with her picture instead of the princess herself back to the Emperor. One of the emperor’s sons looked at the picture in the box and fell in love with her. He came to Usuki city and they were married. They were very happy in Usuki together, and she became pregnant. In those days, the Emperor and his constituents lived in Nara, and he wanted his son to come back to the family dwelling. The Prince went back to the Emperor’s palace, but without Hanyahime. The princess bore a baby girl, but she left her daughter in Usuki with her parents to travel to Nara to see her husband. On the way to Nara, she died because there was a torrential storm. The princess’s parents wanted the box with her picture to be sent back from Nara, and the Emperor obliged. After the memorial, the box served as the daughter of the parents and the mother of the baby girl. In Autumn, the roads to Usuki get very dark earlier than at other times of the year, so the people of Usuki set out the bamboo lanterns to guide the princess’s spirit and other travelers home safely.
The lights look so beautiful! I wish I was there to take in the sights..japan is so full of culture and it is so interesting! But I am totally lost in the story...haha..princess, girl??? who is who?? haha..
ReplyDeleteI am in a country with only a drinking culture..boring!
I took the story from a website. Dont quite understand too. I am there for the bamboo lights, not the princess... haha... and japan has drinking and smoking cultures too!
ReplyDelete