Hakata Toumyou Lantern Arts Festival

This year was the tenth anniversary of this event. It’s a favourite of ours, even though we feel a little embarrassed to say so, because this year was only the third time we went out to see it.

This year it was held on Saturday, the 9th of October. A typhoon passed Kyushu the day before, and it was still windy and rainy. We were not sure if it would be held or not, but we went to Hakata anyway. We spent too long over dinner at an Indian restaurant, so we might have been late to go around. The typhoon wind was too strong for the candle light. A lot of miserable wet paper bags were lying about, and some people had started to collect them. We couldn’t give up, and started to follow the lantern course for Daihaku Street. There were no visitors any more. Even so, there were some fire keepers in the wind and rain, and they kept beautiful lanterns alight at a small park and on the stairs of a small shrine. It was sad to see the lighted lanterns lined up along the roadside, to know that Hakata people had probably spent all day cutting out patterns for the lanterns.

The rain got harder and harder. Just in case, we went to a former elementary school, which had nice lights last year. Many paper bags were lined up in some kind of pattern. But there was no light. The rain just got harder.

We thought about how many people were involved, and how much time they spent for the preparations, and resented the bad weather. We are just visitors who delight in seeing the festival, and we are really looking forward to next year’s Toumyou Watching.

–YS, November 2004

Photo Essay

These photographs weren’t carefully planned or taken, but we hope they suggest the pleasure of Toumyou Watching in 2002 and 2003.
ABOVE
On the grounds of the former Gokusho Elementary School, 2002

We were complete beginners in 2002, so we went to different locations in no particular order. We finally arrived at the former Gokusho Elementary School almost at the finishing time. We were impressed to see such a mass of lanterns for the first time. But at the same time, we were silly, and didn’t notice that they formed some kind of picture.

BELOW LEFT
At Reizen Park, lanterns on a stone lantern, 2002

TOP RIGHT
On the grounds of Hakata Junior High School, 2003

ABOVE
On the grounds of the former Ohama Elementary School, 2003

We were clever enough to see the whole picture from the school building for the first time. (We just followed other people.)
ABOVE & BELOW
On the grounds of the former Gokusho Elementary School, 2003

The picture above is probably a bird. Is the picture below a dragon? It’s hard to know from this angle.
ABOVE
King Gidora and Gamera, 2003
They were really fun to see.

Date posted: 2004-11-27