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昨日は上山田の波閉科（はべしな）神社の秋祭りでした。

私は布団上げとお客さんのお会計が終わったら、作務衣から祭りの格好に変身して、お神楽の皆と一緒に参加しました。開会式の1回目の獅子舞から初めて、神社まで行列で進んで、それからは周辺や温泉街を回りました。夜に神社へ戻って、爆竹付きのグランドフィナーレの一舞。

長い一日でしたが、毎年の秋の楽しみ。

（上の写真は旅館青年部の仲間、小平さんの作品です。彼のブログはこちら；　下の写真は私のです。）

Yesterday was our local shrine, Habeshina Jinja's annual fall festival.

As soon as I got done with flipping futons and checking out the guests, I changed out of my samue work garb and put on my festival clothes. Then I ran and joined the Okagura lion dance troupe just in time for the opening dance. From there we went in a procession to the shrine for another dance, and then went around the neighborhood and the onsen town stopping at the houses of various elders as well as several of the ryokans for yet more dances. Then at night, we made it back up to the shrine for one last dance, a grand finale highlighted by firecrackers.

It was a long day, but a day I look forward to every fall.

(The above picture is from my fellow-innkeeper Kodaira-san. His blog is here. The pictures below are by me.)