Obon 2010

Last night the kids and I were sitting in the living room when we heard a bunch of loud drumming. We looked out the front window and parade of Eisa dancers and Taiko drummers was making its way down our tiny street. They were led by a big colorful float. We quickly went outside to watch. The dancers and drummers stopped right in front of our house and did a little performance, complete with Okinawan music. It was very cool. The whole neighborhood came out to watch. After they did a few songs, they marched off on their way.
It's Obon right now, so I'm assuming this was an Obon related event. It's been great to live in Okinawa and get to experience some of their beautiful culture.
These are some of the pictures I took. The pics don't really capture how cool the experience was, but you can get an idea.

Here we are watching them from the front step. The dancers were right in front of our house. Cool to see!

From the driveway we could see the dancers and the drummers in front of them. If you look down in front of the drummers you can see the float that was leading them.

The parade was followed by a few trucks with plenty of water and cold towels, and extra drums, so they were prepared. The sad thing is Scott was still at work and didn't get to see it. :( But the kids enjoyed the show. Go here to read about our first Obon.