Yesterday was the last day of the Hyakumangoku Festival. In the evening Kenrokuen Garden (the garden I went to with Ryo previously) had an illumination in the evening. When they said "illumination" I envisioned something dramatic and showy, like the Christmas light shows they sometimes have at zoos. So I expected colored strings of lights hung between trees and maybe some chains of lanterns lining the walkways. That's not quite what it was. There were no dramatic colored displays. Instead, certain key locations were lit with spotlights from below, and the pathways were lined with muted lanterns on the ground. In its own simple way it was very beautiful.
But the most beautiful part about it was the traditional shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute) performance they had. A woman wearing a kimono played the flute while being slowly poled around the pond. Everyone was silent, and the sound of her flute just echoed throughout the whole park.
And that concludes the Hyakumangoku festivities. Now it's back to the grindstone of an ordinary (as ordinary as you can get here) week of school.
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