Takayama night festival and the bullet train to Onomichi

The Takayama autumn festival, designated "intangible folklore cultural asset", is said to be one of the three most beautiful festivals in Japan. With origins in the 16th century, as a thanksgiving ceremony to the gods for bumper harvests, it venerates the Sakurayama Hachimangu Shrine (or "Hatchiman-sama"), the guardian deity of old Takayama.

The big attraction is the ten ornate yatai (floats) that process around the town during the afternoon and evening during the two-day period. Each of the yatai is owned by a yatai-gumi group, and is handed down from generation to generation. The god, Hatchiman-sama, normally resides in the shrine. But the autumn procession marks the two days he travels through the town, while flutes, cymbals, drums, and dancing purify the streets and rid them of devils.

The yatai were magnificent (see FB): gold, tassels, carvings and figurines gleaming in the sunshine; during the night procession their myriad lanterns fluttering as the yatai passed through the narrow streets of the preservation area - before turning into the main drag to finish.

I had hoped to see more than just two kimonos on the streets, given the overwhelmingly Japanese audience. But this tradition seems to be on the way out. The previous day, on the cycle tour, our guide Tatsu had said, "People used to believe the local god could affect the weather...", as though worshipping the local god was part of an ignorant past. But he, a Tokyo boy, would regularly visit a shrine, to ask for something or give thanks. So what difference is there between his visits and the farmers expressing their hopes for the agricultural year? Whatever. It was beautiful.

And now I'm on my first Shinkansen "bullet" train, speeding between Takayama and Onomichi, where I'll spend the night before going to my second woof host tomorrow. A packed train travelling through a continuously industrialised landscape, pockets of still-unharvested rice dotted here and there. Away from touristy Takayama I am, once again, a white minority of one.