Mifune Matsuri

A set on Mifune Matsuri 02 (Photo credit: aurelio.asiain)

Mifune Matsuri #58 (Photo credit: Christian Kaden)

Guiding a boat during a festival. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Mifune Matsuri is a festival held in annually in May to celebrate Kiyohara Yorinari, who was a 12th century Confucian scholar. Mifune Matsuri means 'Festival of the Three Boats'.  Every year during this festival his soul is taken for a walk! His spirit is lead into a portable shrine known as a 'mikoshi' and then lead to a temporary shine on the bank of the Oi river.

A beautiful ritual is then held to transfer Kiyohara Yorinari's soul into a boat known as 'gozabune'. Everyone is dressed in ancient attire and then they head along the Togetsukyo Bridge to board the boats. Their costumes are usually very eye catching and even little children will be dressed up in kimonos for the event.

 Kiyohara Yorinari's boat is taken to the middle of the Oi river where it is parked for two or three hours. The other ships carrying artists and the like then pay their respects by approaching the boat and dancing or reading poetry or some other form of entertainment. Every boat has a niche role, a boat will be carrying musicians who play music, while dancers are on a separate boat and so on.

After all this excitement Kiyohara's soul is transfered to another temporary resting place to recover from the festival before the trip home.

Related articles

• My first festival, Mifune Matsuri
• Shingu Mifune Matsuri (Day 2)
• Festivals in Japan (日本の祭り)

Phrases: Greetings

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Good Morning.
Ohayou.
おはよう。

Good Afternoon.
Konnichiwa.
こんにちは。

Good evening. 
Konbanwa. 
こんばんは。

Good bye. 
Sayonara. 
さよなら。

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See you later. 
Dewa mata. 
ではまた。

See you tomorrow. 
Mata ashita. 
また明日。

How are you? 
Genki desu ka.
元気ですか。

Fred's Phrases

The Classroom

Fred's Phrases

Hello and welcome to the classroom. This is where you can find phrases from lessons listed to date. The list keeps on growing and growing! if you have any suggestions comment below or send an email to bigonecomic@gmail.com with the subject 'Smiletalk'

Lesson 1: Greetings
Lesson 2: Phrases for Eating
Lesson 3: Kanji Crunch: Nature

30 Top Talking Prompts

Flag of Japan (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: Metropolitan Government Building in Shinjuku, Tôkyô, Japan (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The torii of Itsukushima Shrine, the site's most recognizable landmark, appears to float in the water. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Japan (Photo credit: Yashar.Mans)

Can't think of anything to talk about?
Well how about you try some of the following!

Easy Topics

1. Your favorite food.
2. The last book you read.
3. Something that scared you as a child.
4. Your Pet.
5. Your best friend.
6. An adventure you once had when you were younger.
7. A hobby.
8. What you are wearing today.
9. What you did today.
10. Something funny about today.

Intermediate Topics

1. Your favorite song and music artist and why.
2. What you love about Japan
3. Something that made you laugh today.
4. Something that inspired you.
5. What made you want to learn Japanese.
6. Talk about the town you live in, what kind of things are there?
7. What do you plan for the future?
8. Places you have been and why.
9. Give directions to your closest shop.
10. Five things you would take on a trip to Japan and why.

Advanced Topics

1. Make a How To for something simple, like cooking an egg.
2. Read your shopping list
3. Talk about a grammar point
4. If you were trapped on a deserted Island what would you do?
5. Your morning routine
6. Count to 100
7. Sing the alphabet song
8. What exactly do you work as?
9. Read an article from the newspaper
10. Something everyone should remember