Looking back to this year’s edition THU Storytelling, many highlights come to mind, but one is particularly special for us: taking the attendees to the Koi Koi Matsuri Festival.
The Koi Koi Matsuri Festival is an annual town harvest festival held in Kaga City to celebrate the beginning of autumn. It dates back to 1961, and it’s the largest festival of the hot spring town of Yamanaka-Onsen.
Picture this: colorful streets, the smell of candy apples in the air, and rowdy crowds carrying mikoshi (sacred portable shrines) so they can be blessed with the precious and soul-cleansing onsen water. We don’t know if it was Unmei (fate) or just sheer luck, but for the second time, the last day of THU Storytelling coincided with Koi-Koi.
We made sure to be prepared: on the morning of Koi-Koi, two lovely Kaga citizens took the time to come to our venue and teach us how to “Bon Dance”, a traditional choreography that everyone does together.
There’s something magical about people from all over the world coming together to dance in sync with the locals, sharing the same steps (ok, and maybe the occasional misstep, but that was just us adding our unique style to the dance).
Kaga City and its traditions mean a lot to us, and it’s an honor to be a part of this celebration, so there’s really no better way to end the event than wearing our yukatas and heading to town for the ultimate cultural immersion experience.
The best part? The welcoming feeling and the realization that the Tribe is joining this event not as outsiders, but as part of the community.