January
01
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Midnight Fox Parade
Middle school boys in foxface and golden skirt-pants carrying gigantic fox heads through the streets of Tokyo? Can you think of a better way to ring in the new year?
Every December 31st at midnight, the good citizens of Oji gather at the local inari shrine to show the furry-tailed messengers of the gods a good time. Like all Shinto festivals, this one features copious amounts of sake (in this case, they’re ladling out the hot, sweet, so-unfiltered-you-nearly-have-to-chew-it brew called amazake), flutes & drums, and people dressed in period costume and sneakers. But that’s just for starters!
Participants and spectators alike wear fox masks, but the thing I love about this festival is that under the fox masks people are all wearing…fox makeup!
Foxmobile!
No shrine parade would be complete without flute-playing vixen.
The venerable fox figure itself gets a ride through town…
…as do children of all ages, even the littlest nipper, who got carried in style.
The many faces of Japan’s most elusive trickster are in attendance, including Mr. Giant Scary Fox there, in the white hakama.
Fox goods were all around, but the ones I was most coveting were these puppets.
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I love fox masks! the fox make up is really cute too! I’ll try it for a halloween ^^
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That is actually a great idea! Since we won’t be going to any of the same parties, maybe nobody will guess I’m copying you! ^^;;
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haha!! let’s do that and you send me a photo, I’ll do the same. It won’t match the lovely bat shaped glasses that I bought in Tokyo though …. I left Japan on the 31st this year and arrived in Paris too tired to do anything so I missed halloween snif!!!
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Love this!
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