Day 9 (23rd July 2011) - Nikko, Edo Wonderland

Woke up around 5 to catch the first train at 620am for Nikko. Yawns.

Train ride is 110 minutes, and I was going back to Fu-Sha again to stay! Love the ryokan and the owner. Yoshiko-San picked us up at the Tobu-Nikko station once we reached, and after we settled down in the cottage, she drove us to a bread shop for breakfast. (",)

Our first stop of the day is at Edo Wonderland, a theme park based on the old Edo period. There's no rides, mainly sightseeing and performances to look at to experience the era.





they have like random edo-like activities around to sort of emulate their olden days, like kids playing around, learning martial arts etc. really neat!









oh look who's the scholar?



saw a haunted house like thing that leads you from hell to heaven. no one popped out to scare people.





this is one helluva ark





heaven!



We managed to watch all the performances, and they were really amazing.

First was the traditional Japanese theatre where they used some ancient projectors to cast a figure on the screen, and it was said to be a precursor to anime. I have to take my hat off to the narrator, as he wasn't reading from a script and he was really animated! The show was 20 mins long, and he could sustain all that energy for maybe 3 shows per day. Wow.





these fishes which you can feed looks pretty scary with their suckling mouths... feel like shuffing rocks into them.





err... breast feeding place?



The second was an outdoor action performance where they jumped from towers and there was mass fighting on stage. The grandpa is really good! There were firecracker sounds which was shocking at the right times.









We then watched a comedy in the backyard about a Magstrate and his trial. The main granny, acted by a guy, was just full of extremely dramatic voice and expressions so even if you didn't know what was happening he could just make you laugh all the same. The magistrate was wearing these really long pants which I thought was for a humorous touch but I seems like that's what they really wore back then!!! How do they walk... Hmm...



funny girl carrying some statue



the 'female' ah ma just keeps getting strangled



the magistrate



his pants so long...



Next we stopped at an ongoing animation of the Nyanmaru mascot at a mini theatre. She basically slept through it while I entertained myself with the lame cat/dog like character with a weird hairdo.







some nyanmaru merchandise...



i got a nemo head, here's a nyanmaru head



Outside, a water parade was ongoing where you could splash water on the carriage the guys were carrying around the area with a continuous chant. The parade is known as Mizuko, and we threw our share as well. As the weather was still pretty warm, I think it was still ok to get soaking wet. Haha!







snapped this too late, oh well



We continued to the indoor water performance, which was a spectacular display of synchronizing the start and stop of different water points by 3 geishas and a clownish guy.















this guy is so funny lol



As there were about a 40 minute lapse till the next performance, we took a little walk around their displays. One was a house which had demon dwellings, abs reminded me of Hyakki Yakou and Nurarihyon.









Next to the house was a prison and the boards show all the torture the prisoners had to go through and what happened to those who were executed. she was saying the blankets look thicker than our hostel's...



how people get tortured in those days







Just opposite it was an exhibition showing the samurai period and the gruesome killings down. As I was too lazy to read everything, all I did was
Snap photos as the most gruesome or eye catching scenes ヽ(￣д￣;)ノ=3=3=3 get ready!





breaktime





some fashion evolution!





why do they hail the dog so...?



edo fire...





more killings...





cloth house



seems like praying to this statue will improve your exam grades. i forgot to pray for my PMP...



Time to sit for the next performance. This one was interactive, as a member of the audience was chosen to act as a high ranking official, and a top ranking and most beautiful geisha performed and served him! Lucky guy. The 'servant' provided his stage lines via a board and it made the audience laugh everytime it was flashed xD the head of the chosen person was also blue, making it all the more comical. The geisha ended the show with a dance, and I was wondering how she managed to pull through the whole act with a straight face! Very experienced and professional...!





so prettttyyyy



serving the guests



geisha dance



Walked for some more and spotted the kimono wearing house. There were many pretty ladies in those costumes walking around, so that's where it's from! Hope I can bring mine next time to wear and take many pretty pictures. Rental rates start at 3000yen for commoners, and can go as much as 5-6k for princesses and geishas (maybe more).





posing with their carriage



HAHA retarded nyanmaru!



Oiran, the top ranking geisha, then came out for a parade around town and walked in her super tall geta o.O







yes same as the one acting just now... lovely!!!!



her aura!





servants trailing the line



Our last show of the day which we missed in the beginning was the ninja show and I love it the most out of all the shows. The entire setting was dark and they played on shadows and lightings.





nice blood splattering effect





Their fighting was also EXTREMELY fast, and coordinated between 5-6 person at one go, and there were no mistakes at all! They must have done this a gazillion times...



swooping down the ropes



and the cast!



After every show, there's also a tradition to put some money in a piece of paper given at the entrance of every show, and wrap it up to throw on the stage, and this was the first and last one I threw for the day. Hope I can see the performance again!

As it was near closing time (530pm), we walked our way out but got caught by a group of people! Turns out these bunch of Edo people were just randomly rounding people up with a piece of rope while on a chasing the burglar pretext, so we can have a memorial photo with them. BUT my camera chose to exhaust it's battery and my phone camera spoilt at the same time!!!! 。・゜・(ノД`)・゜・。

On my way out I restarted m phone and it seems the camera was working again so we ran back in to find the group, but only the thief was left!! Well it was still better than nothing I guess!!



Caught the last bus to Tobu-nikko and did some grocery shopping for dinner, while waiting for Yoshiko-San to pick up her phone...

Decided to try to walk to Shinkyo as we were bored of waiting, and got laughed at by the counter staff since it was a 20 mins walk away and it was already dark at 7pm. Thank goodness Yoshiko-san called back just when we reached there! saw an eerie cafe along the way...



Since there was a Washing machine, we dumped all our clothes in but it turns out that the dryer wasn't working properly so the clothes had to be taken to a dryer. Caused a lot of inconvenience to Yoshiko-San! Also, our dinner needed boiling water to cook and there was no pot on our side so she helped prepare dinner for us too. Although it was those instant bought cold mee, the way she presented them was so nice that our cheapo dinner turned out to be delicious! <3 not so bad after all heh



and this looks like a different yukata from last time. remembered it was blue last time!