Festival Preparation
Town guild members spend a considerable amount of time to prepare for the festival. Meetings and consecrations are held at shrines days before the festival. The carts themselves must be readied for pulling, as they are stored partly disassembled in warehouses. The carts are consecrated for the big event, and they are decorated in various ways. For decorations, flags, prayer cards, fresh flower arrangements, and in some cases even lanterns are used. The taiko ("drum") and Kane ("bell") used to play the town danjiri rhythm are loaded onto the cart, and the musicians selected to ride the danjiri practice for months in advance. The ages of the selected musicians can vary from old veterans of the festival to children as young as four years of age.
Read more about this topic: Danjiri Matsuri
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