Day trip to Sawara's (佐原)🍁GIANT Float Festival🔆 Eat, drink, dance, & shop!🎉

Autumn is coming, with cooler weather, so let's leave noisy, crowded Tokyo for an exciting, exotic, tasty, authentic "Above Edo" old-Chiba style Harvest Festival, the "Sawara (佐原) Suwa-jinja Aki-Matsuri"!
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FESTIVE FUN FOR EVERYONE on SATURDAY, OCTOBER 14th!
(Kids attend for FREE with a parent)
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This is the BEST festival I've found during 15 years in the Tokyo-Chiba area!
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The Grand festival of Sawara, one of the Kanto area's three major festivals, has a 400 year history in which 14 different, amazingly lifelike handmade figures 4 meters tall are paraded on incredibly ornate festival wagons!
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These massive but elegant floats will "dance" at street intersections in an impressive display of superb control, teamwork & muscle power!
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(4 wheeled parade carts called "floats" in the USA are "dashi" or "yama" in Japan & are hand-crafted from wood, steel, brocade, bronze, lacquer, shell & gold!)
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https://www.city.katori.lg.jp/sightseeing/matsuri/introduction/index.html
https://www.city.katori.lg.jp/sightseeing/matsuri/introduction/aki.html
It's a truly impressive & exciting experience, NOT to be missed!
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We had a GREAT meetup here in July until sundown, but this time, we can stay into the evening if you'ld like to enjoy the spectacular lamps, wild music, ecstatic dancing, feasting & canal-side parade of illuminated floats!?
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BEST "PHOTO WALK" in JAPAN? COULD BE!
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Do you know an old city, “Sawara” (佐原) an old & wealthy merchant town in Chiba-ken?
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The main attraction of the Autumn festival (AKA: Shinjuku Suwa Shrine Festival) is a parade of 14 beautiful hand-crafted carts bearing giant figures of historical & mythological characters which are pushed, pulled or levered along the streets & canal-side lanes of Sawara.
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The city flourished due to boats carrying people & cargo on its many canals, and is designated as Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings (重要伝統的建造物群保存地区 Jūyō Dentōteki Kenzōbutsu-gun Hozon-chiku).
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These boats brought Edo culture & fads to Sawara. Since people could enjoy the real thing at home without traveling to Edo, Sawara was thought to be "Edo masari", or “better-than-Edo.”
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Just 90 minutes from Tokyo Station by Rapid train, you can enjoy lots of beautiful country scenery on your way there!
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Traces of this history remain along the Ono river & Katori street. Approximately 42 homes & shops are open to the public as a city-wide museum. http://www.adventurejapan.jp/en/archives/3480
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Enjoy the glorious festival carts, the colors, the drums, the songs, the flutes, the dances, the food, the drinks, the sweets, the unusual shops, the history & more! (OMG, the SHOPPING!)
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Sawara's festivals are not to be missed. They're more enjoyable than some festivals which are now overcrowded, smoky & risky. (Like the Kawagoe festival which has become quite difficult)
Sawara is often called a "Little Edo" due to the fine condition of many beautiful old timber & tile shops & fireproof storehouses, known as "kura" which stand beside a beautiful willow-lined stone canal in which the Ono River flows through the center of town & beneath several picturesque bridges.
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Sawara's Katori-jinja is an important Shinto shrine. The town is famed as the home of Inoh Tadataka, the genius who created Japan's first accurate modern map, completed in 1821!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In%C5%8D_Tadataka
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We may visit The Ino Tadataka Home Museum in Sawara during our tour: URL: http://www.city.katori.lg.jp/museum/
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The Dashi Museum, or "Sawara Floats Hall" is located next to Yasaka shrine. URL: http://www.city.katori.lg.jp/dashikaikan/
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NOTE: The Sawara festival is free, but we work hard to research & prepare interesting tours for you. Please give generously, so we can continue introducing you to more experiences & events!
(Suggested: ￥2000-￥3000)
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GETTING THERE:
Option #1: Meet us at JR Ichikawa station, (just 15 minutes East of JR Akihabara on the Chuo-Sobu Line. We'll meet BETWEEN 10:00 & 10:20 & ride with our happy crew by train to old Sawara!
(PLEASE be EARLY for this connection!)
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The Sobu/Narita Rapid Train for Narita leaves JR Ichikawa station from Platform #4 at EXACTLY: 10:27. Our train will arrive at JR Sawara station at 12:12pm. Meet toward the front, onboard this train if you'd like, we'll transfer to the Choshi lane for Sawara at JR Narita station!
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Option #2: Travel on your own to Sawara by train, car or highway bus & meet us near the South-Side Bus Stop of JR Sawara Station between 12:15 and 12:30. We'll leave on foot from JR Sawara station at 12:35!
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(IF YOU CHOSE OPTION #2 PLEASE LET US KNOW! ~ Kerry)
*(See Highway, Bus & other information at the bottom of this page)
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If you come late, do a "no-show" or cancel after the stated deadline, this makes life harder for the other members & organizers too, so please be kind to all!
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Wear comfortable shoes. An umbrella is often handy in Japan!

Thanks! ~ Kerry D. 🌞