Kushi Matsuri (Comb Festival) is held annually in Gion, the traditional geisha district of Kyoto. "Worn-out combs and hairpins are brought to the Tasui Konpiragu shrine to be blessed for their hard work".Each young lady had her hair styled very elaborately, in both traditional and modern styles, ranging from ancient times to the Meiji Era to today.
Lamika, Luke, and I were meeting Jen there, and we somehow got lost, then separated. Lamika and I asked a pair of older women, who then said THEY were lost, and we banded together to find the shrine. The more people we asked, the most lost people we found. When we finally did find the shrine, in the pouring rain, we were a group of about 19 people. And Lamika and I were the only ones who didn't speak Japanese. It was great!
Swams of photographers.
I really loved her painted on eyebrows.
The women would demonstrate traditional dances. I was literally hanging off a tree branch to see over the crowd to take a photo.
Musicians.
This woman was helping everyone, and she was rocking some mighty fierce hair herself.
It was raining pretty steadily.
Final adjustments.
She was very nice, and very patient.
She looked right at me, I snapped a photo, and immediately apologized. I'm still not sure why.
It was kind of boring for them, to just sit there and smile.
At least the woman on the right doesn't look like she wants to kill herself.
This probably sounds really weird, but I really like how her hand is posed here. So graceful.
And no festival is complete without Ninja Dog.
