Inyuama Spring Festival

In the dawn of Spring, as the delicate, ephemeral pink & pristine white Kwanson Cherry blossoms begin to awake, the ancient city of Inyuama, Japan, comes alive. This festival came to fruition in 1635. Thirteen ornate floats that weigh a few tons are pushed and dragged from the serene Kiso River by three generations of volunteers dressed in traditional, vibrant kimonos. They sing or chant all day and eat rice cakes & arduously push and tug them through the rolling hills to the top of the mountain, where the ancestral INYUAMA Castle is located. Hundreds of Samurai were once the sacred guardians of this fortress. Cherry blossoms are holy to the Japanese. 

~ Hal S. Kataoka.