Saito Sai - Japanese Spring Festival at Kashima Shrine
Saito Sai is a 1200 year old Japanese Spring Festival in Kashima in Ibaraki Prefecture where people wear colorful robes and carry wooden staves that they clash together. It's a lively festival with a lot of humor as people paint their faces and wear funny dolls and such.
Part of the festival commemorates the Sakimori. Sakimori were border guards in Kyushu set up in the mid-7th Century when Japan feared invasion after being defeated in battle with Chinese forces when they were aiding one of Korea's three kingdoms. Many of the Sakimori were called up from the Kanto area such as places around Kashima because they were a hardy people used to fighting and had their own weapons. Many of the Sakimori of the area would stop at Kashima Shrine to pray for their safe passage before embarking on their 3-year tour of duty not counting the time it took to get there and back. When they were passing through Osaka, they were overheard singing songs remembering their homes. Many of these songs were put in the Man'yoshu, an 8th Century anthology of old Japanese poetry.
The festival takes place March 9th every year.
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Kashima Odori (Kashima Dance), Yoshiahama Suga shrine (Aug. 1st 2017)