Boy And The Stage In Himonya Hachimangu

I was approaching the location of the shrine pavilion on the approach to Himonya Hachimangu Shrine. The pathway was crowded as if I was visiting a famous shrine or temple at the start of a year. Then I saw that the stage near the shrine building was lit up. This was the first time I had ever seen this stage lit up.

I didn't know what was being performed. Two masked men were standing in the middle of the stage and people upstage were playing instruments. The performers seemed to be discussing a fishing rod. Probably, this is an allegorical performance of an honest old man who has done well with a fishing rod, but if the old man with a bad character uses it, nothing good will happen to him.

Anyway, I was a little surprised that such a folk performance was performed at the festival. And the audience was quite large. I guess they weren't just looking for the stage, but all the chairs in front of the stage were occupied. The boy in this photo didn't seem to be bored with just sitting on a chair to watch the show, so he approached the stage and watched it intently.