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Samba dancers in front of Senso-ji Temple’s gate

Nigh-naked be-feathered dancing samba girls move to the beat of Brazilian music and the feverish whirl and click of thousands of cameras held sweatily in hand by overly-enthusiastic photographers.

Every year, the samba groups choose a theme for their presentation. The nigh-naked samba girls are nearly always the same with feathers, tiara, and sequins but their companions sport different costumes every year based on a chosen theme.

Jesus makes a guest appearance

One group’s theme was based on sumo. Two performers twirled bows similar to the way that sumo wrestlers do at the end of each day of a sumo tournament. A large float was made out to depict a Yokozuna - sumo champion. The strangest part of the group by far were four golden gals wearing masks and very little else.

A Golden Duo

This year saw a bit of Akihabara otaku (nerd) culture mixed with saucy samba. Scantily-clad girls in outlandish sci-fi outfit pretended to fire space age cannons in rhythm to the music. The musicians were dressed like the bug-eyed abducting type aliens who appear in all those UFO documentaries and redneck nightmares. There were no probes to be seen, however.

Otaku (nerd) Samba - space age cuties fire imaginary rockets

Another odd ensemble was a group of pink haired heavy metal guys pulling a float from which hung suspended in air a black pig with large pink polka dots and skull and crossbones. My favorite one that summed up Japanese cutesy-ness was the midriff-baring girls wearing polar bear paws as gloves and a polar bear head as a hat.

Pink haired Heavy Metal Rockers with their pink polka-dotted pig

Polar bear girls?

The weather in Tokyo has been strange recently and it’s dubious presence was felt at this year’s Samba event. At the beginning, it was sunny, hot, and very humid. Sweat rolled down performers and spectators alike. Then suddenly the skies darkened and shortly afterward rain began cascading downward.

Unfeathered wet dancing samba girls

Spectators either opened umbrellas or fled under awnings. The samba performers did not have either option. Surprisingly they didn’t call off or postpone the event. Undaunted by the pouring rain and the potential for electrocution by their sound systems, the samba performers wiped the rain from their brows and resolutely carried on.

Damp fairies flitter about

The samba dancing girls discarded their feathers weighed down as they were with rainwater. On the bright side, the nigh-naked once-befeathered dancing samba girls were now unfeathered wet dancing samba girls - a silver lining to our rain cloud.

Rain can’t stop a samba girl from having a good time

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As I entered the futuristic-looking Tokyo Big Site building on Odaiba Island, I was greeted by a person with the head of fish. Beyond him/her/it and all about the place wandered a colorful assortment of strange characters which appeared to have been born in fertile imaginations bred on Japanese Anime, Gothic Horror, and Salvador Dali. It was then that I knew I had reached my destination: the Tokyo Design Festa.

Fishhead man advertising

Getting a leg up or two at Tokyo Design Festa

Usagi - Drumming Rabbits - Female Taiko Group

Design Festa is a chaotic showcase of artists, musicians, craftsmen, designers, dancers, and performers - the sublime mixed with the avant garde. The Design Festa takes place twice a year in Tokyo and has been going on for 14 years.

A Wild Wall

Artists come from all over the world to participate. Booths are set up to showcase their creations and crafts. Visitors can look at, handle, and purchase their favorite pieces. In addition they have the chance to talk with the artist to learn more about them and their artwork.

An artist below one of her works

Painter creating art at the Festa

For artists, the Design Festa gives them the opportunity to get their work noticed and possibly sold. The event is a breeding ground for future art as a lot of networking goes on between artists which can lead to potential collabrations.

Pint-size masters at work

Ninja getting down with their badselves

A twirling ghost

There is so much to see, do, and absorb in a weekend at Design Festa. The place is literally a beehive of activity. There are performances to see, workshops to attend, bands to hear, painters to watch, and oddity to puzzle over.

Geisha Gone Godzilla

Panda Man! He eats, shoots, and leaves.

Some of the booths offer short workshops to teach visitors a bit their craft. I tried my hand at the ancient art of Japanese calligraphy. Calligraphy in old Japan was considered an all important skill. In the far off days of the Heian Period (794-1192), a person’s calligraphy was believed to be a mirror of their character. I would have been laughed out of the Heian Court with my paltry attempt at the turtle kanji character. My turtle looked a bit more like a sickly chicken strung up by clumsy anti-poultry vigilantes. My teacher, a ten year old girl, was patient with me and guided me as best as she could.

Me with my Calligrapher Teacher

Anime School Girl Calligrapher

At a makeup special effects booth, visitors were able to get horrific body scars which didn’t hurt a bit. I got myself a nice deep scar running down my arm which later fooled a few drunks at my local bar.

I got scarred at Tokyo Design Festa

A bloody guitarist

There were several fantasical creations from this booth wandering around surprising the unwary and small children. One was tall elegant alien creature frighteningly realistic but fortunately sweetenly demure.

A very realistic alien courtesy of special effects make up

Another creation was a ghastly sculpture of a half-tree half-woman monster with the severed head of a man in her/its hand. Her/Its roots were nourished with the blood and gore of other men. It was a macarbe cocktail of environmentalism and feminism blended horrifically together.

Environmental Feminism at its goriest

A samurai fiercely guarding his booth

Along with the countless booths, there are a variety of showings throughout the day in different sections of the event area. Bands, short films, musicians, eclectic performers can be seen outside, upstairs, and in the main hall. I was able to see rock bands, taiko drum groups, naughty nurses, a gyrating eyeball man, and a dancing ninja troupe.

A band performing at the outdoor stage

Guitarist licks lips as he rips licks

The Bufferins - naughty pain relievers

One of the popular returning performance groups is Mr. Eyeball Love Globe from Taiwan. The group is headed by man with an enormous eyeball as his head. His outfit is covered with a similar pattern. His story from his flyer is that he is an alien here to spread love. The Eyeball group was one of the most out-there groups and attracted a lot of attention. They have been to Design Festa several times before.

Mr Eyeball Love Globe Group from Taiwan

Avant-Garde at its Warholian best

Design Festa takes place twice a year in May and November.

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There is no rhyme or reason to the costumes or themes in which the performers and participants come in. There are psychedelic psycho clowns, cat people who looked like they’ve escaped from a Japanese production of Broadway’s Cats, naughty nurses, light saber wielding cyborgs, Victorian Era vampires, dastardly devils, Gothic school girl Lolita’s, luscious hula girls, dancing doctors, and variety of types that defy labeling.

A cat and a devil cavorting

Tokyo Decadance started almost three years ago as the brainchild of Adrien Le Danois, a noted French Drag Queen of the Parisian scene. He moved to Japan in 2003 where he later created Tokyo Decadance. Decadance is a melting pot of various underground cultures in Japanese society. What was thought unmixable, Decadance mixed. Dark cyberpunks dance alongside genki nouveau geisha while outrageously-dressed anime geeks dance alongside suited salarymen.

The organizers describe the phenomenon as follows:

Tokyo Decadance became the ‘rendez-vous’ of gothic, cyberpunk, fetish, manga heroine, lolitas, yamanbas, ko gyaru, drag queen, punk, tokyo jet-set and other partymonsters, but also salaryman and ‘normal people’ love Tokyo Decadance, especially because of its ENERGY!!!

In its beginnings, Tokyo Decadance was influenced by the street styles of the various fashion subcultures of Tokyo. Now Tokyo Decadance is influencing those street styles.

Tokyo Decadance is not just a dance scene. There are number of performances at each of the shows running from fire shows, martial arts demos mixed with dance, theater, exotic dancing, and a little bondage to keep things interesting.

Tokyo Decadance has now become practically a worldwide event with shows taking place in a number of cities around the world. Decadance has been invited to perform in several distinguished venues such as the Enghein Center museum and the Salon of Pret a Porter in France.

A cyborg bouncer with his trusty light saber makes sure no one gets too out-of-hand

Overall its a fun time to let oneself go and a great place to meet and/or get beaten by some interestingly unique people.

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Even foreign residents are often invited to join in with their local community festivities. Participation can range from folk dancing, singing, demonstrating martial arts, or carrying portable shrines known as a mikoshi.

Shoppers get a special treat as fan dancers parade down the arcade

In the northern city of Sendai, the Aoba Festival celebrates the anniversary of the death of the founder of the city, Date Masamune (1567-1636). Date Masamune was a warlord who fought and survived during Japan’s Warring States Period. In the peace that followed he founded the city of Sendai.

Fan Dancers dance in front of a festival float

The Aoba Festival has all the trappings of typical Japanese festivals - decorative floats, armor-wearing samurai processions, shrine parades, taiko drumming, and dancing performances. Unfortunately, I only caught one day of this three-day festival but what caught my attention the most was the hundreds of locals performing fan dances in large groups.

People of all ages were participating from the very young to the very old. Even junior high and high school students took part which surprised me as back home that age group is generally “too cool” to be part of a community event.

High school students performing a traditional dance

The most commonly performed dance at the Aoba Festival is a fan dance which is a local Sendai tradition going back 400 years. Date Masamune ordained a castle to be built in Sendai in the Aoba district. His stone masons are said to have created a special dance known as the Suzume Odori. Suzume Odori means the Sparrow’s Dance. Dancers mimic the movements of sparrows with their fans. The Sparrow incidentally is also the Date Family crest.

Mohawk Drummer leading the pack

Group after group of Suzume Fan Dancers parade through Sendai’s shopping district giving shoppers a show. Children and grandparents alike show off their dancing skills. Granted, the timing of some of the younger ones is a bit off but no one in audience really minds.

Even the wee ones get in on the fun

DATE MASAMUNE

Date Masamune was a warlord of the Sengoku Period. This was an age of warring provinces where lords great and small struggled to expand or defend their territories. In an age of fighters, Date Masamune was one of the toughest. He survived small pox when he was young at the cost of one of his eyes. His mother spurned him and lavished her affection on his younger brother whom he was later forced to kill to preserve peace. His father was betrayed and murdered.

In his lifetime of war, though, Date witnessed the unification of the country under three successful warlords from the middle area of Japan. Date was clever enough to see which way the wind was blowing and offer allegiance to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, one of the great unifying lords, in 1590. This was when Toyotomi was mopping up the last resistance to his control. Still even with Toyotomi’s unquestionable control of the nation, Date dared to refuse the initial summons and later delayed again Toyotomi’s second summons to offer submission. Date expected death but his fearless candor impressed Toyotomi that nothing came of his disobedience. Date later served in Toyotomi’s disastrous Korean campaigns.

A spry elder struts his stuff

After Toyotomi’s death, Date sided with Tokogawa Ieyasu who eventually became Shogun and subsequently the ruler of all Japan. Date was awarded the lands around Sendai thus becoming one of Japan’s strongest lords. He quickly turned the fishing village of Sendai into a thriving capital.

Though a warrior, Date was farsighted and encouraged dealings with other nations far from Japan - Europe to be exact, sending an envoy to Italy. Unfortunately, his early attempts at globalization came at a time when the rulers of Japan were closing its doors. He was forced to curtail further attempts at international trade while banning Christianity which had made inroads into his domain. Still despite these setbacks, Date proved himself a capable administrator and a benevolent leader to his people. It’s small wonder that the descendants of his people still celebrate him to this day.

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But they were not always there. Before them, a more active and lively group ruled the park with a leather-gloved fist. They didn’t sit around chatting or trying to brood darkly. They moved and swayed to the beat of good old rock ‘n’ roll.

Takenoko-zoku were once a familiar sight in Harajuku.

They were the takenoko-zoku or bamboo shoot kids. They were named so because they just sprang up sometime in the ’80s. One group went in for the ’50s-style look of leather jackets, pompadours, slicked back hair, white T-shirts and blue jeans. Basically, they looked like extras from a Japanese production of “Grease.”

Every Sunday these rockers danced or rocked out with their local bands. Harajuku grooved to an old-time beat for many years … until one fateful day.

It’s never really been explained to anyone’s satisfaction why the authorities felt the takenoko-zoku were such a menace to Japanese society. But in the mid-’90s the police showed up in force and drove off all the rockers, greasers, twisters and bump-n-grinders.

Into the vacuum trickled the goth Lolita crowd. Far weirder but quieter they slowly took over the former territory of the takenoko-zoku and became its main attraction in time.

When the old takenoko-zoku were driven off, a weirder crowd replaced them.

Goth maids took the place of bobby sox girls.

A block over from their old stomping grounds at the entrance of Yoyogi Park, some of the rockabilly takenoko-zoku still gather to rock the Sunday away. The last of a dying breed, they resist change and do what they have done for years — dance.

Rock on!

Yeah, daddy-o!

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Komuso used to play the Shakuhachi (Japanese Bamboo flute) for alms and meditation

Centuries ago in Old Japan the streets of cities and villages were accustomed to the sight of a Buddhist priest playing a bamboo flute with his head completely covered by a straw hat. This was the Komuso. Komuso were Zen Buddhists priests who wandered about Japan playing the Shakuhachi for both meditation and alms.

Komuso belonged to the Fuke sect of Japanese Zen Buddhism. Fuke Zen comes from the teachings of Linji Yixuan, a Zen teacher from China in the 9th Century. Fuke however is the Japanese name for Pahua one of Linji’s peers and co-founders of his sect. Pahua would walk around ringing a bell to summon others to enlightenment. In Japan, it was thought the Shakuhachi could serve this purpose.

Komuso means “Priest of Nothingness”

Fuke Zen came to Japan in the 13th Century. The priest were known first as komoso which means “straw-mat monk.” Later they became known as Komuso which means “priest of nothingness” or “monk of emptiness.” Fuke Zen emphasized pilgrimage and so the sight of wandering Komuso was a familiar one in Old Japan.

Komuso practiced saizen which is meditation through blowing on the Shakuhachi as opposed to the sazen which is meditation through sitting as practiced by most Zen followers.

Komuso wore straw hats which hid their ego and their identity

The shakuhachi flute was the instrument used to achieve this desired state. Shakuhachi derives its name from its size. Shaku is an old unit of measure close to an American measurement of a foot. Hachi is eight which in this case represents the measurement of eight-tenths of a shaku. True Shakuhachi are made of bamboo and can be quite expensive going upwards to $5,000 in modern times.

Komuso wore a woven straw hat which covered their head completely looking like an overturned basket. The concept was that by wearing such a hat they removed their ego. What the hat also did was remove their identity from prying eyes. It’s no wonder that komuso was a popular disguise for spies and supposedly the deadly ninja.

Old and New Japan blending together

When the Tokugawa Shogunate came into power over a unified Japan at the beginning of the 17th Century, the komuso came under the government’s wary eyes. Many komuso had formerly been samurai during the Sengoku (Warring States) Period (16th Century) and were now lay clergy. The potential for trouble was there because many of them had turned ronin when their masters were defeated - most likely by the Shogunate and their allies.

The Shogunate instead of destroying this potential menace instead turned the komuso into a positive force, at least from their perspective. Therefore komuso were granted the rare privilege of traveling through the country without hindrance. The reason for this special permission was that many komuso had been co-opted into becoming spies for the Shogunate. And some were outright spies in komuso disguise.

Many Komuso were former samurai

Only true Komuso, though, could play the honkyoku which were musical pieces of such complexity that only those adept with the Shakuhachi could perform them. Sometimes komuso were asked to perform these pieces to see if they were true komuso or the Shogun’s spies in disguise. However, it mattered little as some of the true komuso were also on the Shogunate’s payroll.

Komuso could move freely throughout Old Japan unlike Ronin (masterless samurai)

In 1868 when power was relinquished by the Shogunate to the Emperor, the komuso bore a significant brunt of the animosity from Imperial forces. Komuso were so synonymous with spies for the Shogunate that the Komuso were utterly abolished in 1871 and even the playing of the shakuhachi as a solo instrument was prohibited for several years.

The komuso had meddled in the affairs of the secular world and ultimately paid the price for it. The practice of the Komuso did not die out entirely though and shakuhachi continues to be played for both entertainment and meditation.

Modern Komuso are faint echoes of their past

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