A parade of what?

So, this will be the first in a series of posts about my totally amazing 秋休み。First off, is the "Quiet Shamisen Parade." And what exactly is a quiet shamisen parade?--you might be asking. I was wondering pretty much the same thing when I went to go see it.
The parade was in honor of some festival (I think?), and was held over in 祐天寺 Yutenji--Minato Mirai sen, on the way to Shibuya. 祐天寺 is apparently known for shamisen parades (or so I heard). Anyway, I went to see the parade with Paul--not an IUC student, but he's Amy L's roommate, and so has kind of become IUC by default. Paul's friend Kyoka (Japanese, but he met her in LA working at a radio station, I think?) is sort of an experimental musician/singer (I've heard her music described as "weird" or "out there") but she apparently also takes shamisen lessons--hence the parade. It was basically a whole bunch of people in kimonos and traditional Japanese dress, either playing the shamisen, singing, or doing traditional dances while they paraded down the street.
It was a really neat thing to see, and 祐天寺 is a bit of an old-fashioned sort of area so the whole thing had this really traditional, nostalgic feel to it. Made even more so by the hole in the wall ramen place that Paul and I ate dinner at after. We sat and chatted, waiting for Kyoka, and then went over with her to this sort of "after party" for the parade participants. It was held in a big room in a nearby kindergarten, which meant that we were all sitting on those preschooler-size mini chairs with our knees up in our chins, drinking beer and eating yakitori skewers. It was rather an odd experience. :-) Especially the part when the dude who was sort of in charge of the parade told me that I had "very pretty teeth." (Umm...OK.....?)

And now, for some more photos!

Paul and Kyoka.

Here's another one of Kyoka playing shamisen in the parade.

I just really liked this woman's kimono.

And now, for videos!!!


And next is one I took that lets you see a little more of the dancing.