Wind bell featival @ Kawasaki Daisha:July 16, 2011

We again had a very hot day today.

I visited Kawasaki Daishi (Heiken-ji Temple) in Kawasaki City (Tokyo's southwest) to attend its Wind Bell Festival.

Kawasaki Daishi has been popular among people to pray for their health since the Edo period. It is one of the most popular visiting places in the new-year season in the country. (Meiji Jingu Shrine in Tokyo, Tsurugaoka Hachiman Shrine in Kamakura and Narita-san in Chiba Prefecture are other popular places in greater Tokyo).

There are many shops along the street to the temple. I found some candy shops where members were playing special performances -- cutting candies from a big bar into small pieces with big cutting knife -- to the guests. Others shops sold Daruma dolls.

Wind Bells from about 100 production places were sold at the Festival. Some bells were made in grass and whereas some were made metal-made.


Some were from places in Tohoku district, which was severely hit by the earthwuake.

I enjoyed various kinds of sounds -- heavy, light, high, low, metallic sounds.



I felt they were sounds of summer.