Something Different : Kishiwada Danjiri Festival

"暑いねお兄さん."

-random Japanese grandma to me.

Yeah, it was very hot that day. But it was all good, as I was able to bear witness to one of Japan's long standing traditions, festivals!

A cart on standby. 

The Kishiwada Danjiri Matsuri (岸和田だんじり祭), is an old staple in the Osaka's list of amazing festivals whereby wooden carts, called danjiri are carried around and pulled with lots of muscle power around the smaller city of Kishiwada. No guessing that matsuri means festival. 

Go go go!

 Danjiri are large wooden carts in the shape of a shrine or temple. Often times, a guild or a society will be responsible for maintaining their own danjiri. And during each festival, these carts will be pulled by hundreds of people. Hundreds, and yes not joking, of men, women and even sometimes children will pull the carts by rope. There will be person on the roof of the danjiri controls the direction of movement and performs a traditional fan dance. Each town and prefecture has its own spin to it. And the most popular of them all is the one in Kishiwada. 

Lunch!

And being a festival, the event was loaded with lots of street food stalls. And like most of Osaka, the street food here was taken very seriously. If you need something cheap and filling, then look no further than okonomiyaki. 

Superb but simple. 

Often times called the Japanese pancake, this was a more rugged version of the Japanese street food star. Lots of pancakes were being cooked at the same time, with simple filling such as bacon and cabbage. And of course, a good layer of sauce and a healthy sprinkle of bonito flakes came soon after. And it only stood for ¥500. Real bargain if you ask me. 

Cannot get any more local than this. 

And to wash it down, there is nothing more fitting that a chu hi. Strong Zero was not on sale this time, but a Kirin Hyoketsu was a good substitute. And when you are eating by an alleyway with the support of folding tables, you know you have acclimatized well. 

Time for a snack. 

Well, as the festival was still ongoing, more food seemed to be a good option. I had a very interesting and lighter version of the okonomiyaki, which was the tamago senbei (玉子せんべい), which directly translate to egg rice cracker. 

Looked interesting tho. 

This was interesting, as it had a lot of crunch, especially when there were tempura scraps sprinkled on top of it. It was ok, but I find the sauce a little to overpowering. Not a bad snack tho. One piece stood at ¥200. 

Dessert? 

Needing something frosty to wash all of that rice cracker down, I headed off to a nearby shaved ice stall. However, unlike most shaved ice stalls, you can add in any flavour syrup of your choice. And in that regard, why not add all? 

Check out the cup!

My shaved ice did look like a rainbow, but Skittles it was not. Too many contrasting flavours were running about, and it made for somewhat of a weird experience. Still it was thoroughly refreshing. And that stood at ¥300. Maybe next time, I will stick to strawberry or melon and not be so greedy. 

A sweet finish. 

I was thinking of calling it a day but the smell of freshly baked goodies caught my nose. And after some searching, I found a castella stall. But unlike regular castella which is baked in an oven, this was baked in a grill! Very similar to kueh bahulu back in Malaysia. And it does taste like it, although it was slightly firmer. A cup of coffee would have gone great with this one. And a small pack stood for ¥300 as well.

A new batch in the works. 

Being a festival, there are even more stuff to eat and enjoy. There are also alot of festival games like darts and fishing with magnets. But after all the carts have made their way round, it would be safe to end your day there. 

Houston, we are ready for take off...

This was an amazing experience. The food was cheap and filling, the atmosphere was exciting and I made a few new friends along the way. If you are interested in attending the Kishiwada Danjiri Festival, do check out the Osaka municipal council's website. There are held twice a year: in September and October, where the September one has more participants and carts. And if you do make it here, it best you stay put near the Nankai Kishiwada station as the carts will start their "launch" from the T-junction where the station is located. 

Best view in the house.