Did you Noh? We did.

Guess what we saw tonight?

(How did you guess?)

There was an outdoor Noh performance at Heian Shrine. And even though Alek has known for months that he didn't want to see this, we made him go anyway. Kids were free!

The boys read their manga while Darrin and I enjoyed the first two shows. We really liked the "singing." Whup. Whoooooop. Wrrrrrrroooop.

We decided that outdoors is the way to go Noh. (especially with three kids)

After about one hour, they lit some fires, and then were going to do four more plays. But....it was about to rain, and our boys were being so good to sit through an hour of it. So, we left.
We weren't allowed to take photos of the performance. So here is a photo of the program:
And our ticket.

This is not a Noh performer. This is some kind of tourist egg from Kyoto. It likes Noh, too.

So, time for some Noh puns. Bring it.

Shichi go san

In mid-November, parents of 3, 5, and 7 year-old kids take them to local shrines for a blessing and special ceremony. I dragged our family to the Heian Jingu in Kyoto (one of the biggest ones) to look around. Heian Jingu has this huge torii:

Part of the fun is that kids get dressed up in their finest clothes. Some people choose traditional Japanese clothes; others choose fancy Western clothes.

Behold the cuteness:

This boy is holding his chitose ame, a candy for living a long time.

It's not just the cute clothes--it's also the hair, the makeup, the sandals, the socks, the purse. Some of my grown-up Japanese friends told me they hated the tight kimono. But the kids we saw seemed pretty proud.

These are three-year old twins from Osaka.

After posing for me, the little boy wanted to get his picture taken with Ani-san ("big brothers" Max and Alek). I said, okay, but just don't post it on the internet.

By the way, I do always ask before taking the pictures...at least the ones from the front....