Snowmen wearing traditional snow-gear!
In front of Town Hall.
Yours truly in an ice cave.
Well ladies and gents, I’m off to Denver to bridesmaid for 10 days! So here’s a little something to keep you while I’m away… the Yukidaruma Festival in Shiramine! This little town tucked in the mountains is usually covered in several feet of snow, but sadly this year the festival was preceded by a week of spring-like weather, so all of it melted! For the festival each family in the village makes 1 snowman for each person in their household, including pets, which means there were over 1000 snowmen being displayed that day. After dark each group of snowmen had their own mini-lightup with candles. I’ll see if I can find some good night pictures later. One of the best parts of the day was the food, of course! we got to try some delicious local specialities, like yellowtail stewed with daikon, bear soup (there’s a big bear population nearby – I was told proudly that it was shot locally, not in Toyama!) and grilled ayu, a tiny, delicous freshwater fish that flourishes in the mountain streams. Here’s hoping your town isn’t covered in snow and that spring is on its way! Although maybe you’re not so lucky if you live in the Northeast right now ^^;;;
For more yukidaruma pictures: Warding off the Winter Chill
~MS the bridesmaid
8 Comments
March 5, 2009 at 10:27 pm
Have a great trip. I enjoyed looking at your photos.
March 7, 2009 at 2:57 am
At first, I thought the snowmen are plastic ones. The Yukidaruma Festival sounds interesting.
March 12, 2009 at 3:22 am
Lol the faces were either made out of colored paper or sheets of thin rice paper with ink eyes! I’m not surprised you thought they weren’t snow ^^
March 8, 2009 at 1:16 am
These are the most Japanese looking snowmen I have ever seen. Turned you into a Whale in my latest story “Tongue in Cheek”.
March 8, 2009 at 2:34 am
Oh what fun!! And look – there you are!!! I’m very jealous. Hey, I’m reading the Book Thief at the moment – amazing story! It’s spreading by word of mouth around these parts and I even bought it for my library way back when, not knowing I had a right little gem sitting on my shelves. Am also working on a little handmade book. I’m blogging about it right now – I’ve called it “the Mountain People…”. What inspired me, of course, was one of your blog entries back in 2008 about miniature books….
So anyway, can you perhaps ship out to New Zealand one of those cute little hooded snow people in your first picture? Lovely.
March 10, 2009 at 9:48 am
Delightful! Once again this blog has been the leaven in the loaf so to speak…
March 27, 2009 at 11:48 am
I’ve seen Yukidaruma wearing hats and scarves but love to see the Yukidaruma wearing traditional snow-gear better!
May 15, 2009 at 10:46 pm
Japanese Yukidaruma, or is that Snow Bhoddidharma’s Snowmen are The Coolest of Snowmen!
Following a number of encounters with the monks of Tibet, The London Snowman has just embarked on a mission to The Himalayas to try and find The Abominable Snowman and it seems that He may himself be what he is looking for…….
Look here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFQsV-v040I
_/\_