There are not many residents in Okutamagawa Town, but today, almost every household has arrived, and it is also crowded.

Shan Yu protected Satoko and Yingying, and found a relatively spacious foothold, leaning against a pine tree.

Ying Ying looked around and asked, "Huh, where did Brother Yamahiko go?"

Satoko smiled, gave her a mischievous look, and said, "He, he has a task, go change clothes and prepare." You'll find out in a moment. ”

Ying Ying suddenly remembered something and asked Lizi, "In a while, is Brother Yamahiko going to dance?"

Satoko couldn't help nodding, "yes, he's going to perform Kashima Odori in a while." ”

"What is Kashima Odori?" Ying Ying had never heard of before.

"Kashima-odori is a dance that worships the gods. Every time we have a Kashima festival, we always start with a sacrifice to the gods to show our respect for the gods.

And to worship the gods, we are here by dancing. Of course, there are other ways, as you'll see later. ”

Ying Ying nodded, indicating that she understood.

She craned her neck to look over the venue and saw a tall, makeshift stage surrounded by a purple curtain.

Brother Yamahiko will dance there later, Ying Ying guessed.

After waiting for a while, a white-bearded old man in a purple traditional costume strode to the side of the stage with a solemn expression.

The people next to the venue suddenly fell silent, Ying Ying thought that it should be started, and couldn't help but look forward to Yamahiko's appearance in dance costumes.

Behind the old man, followed by a group of people, mainly middle-aged and elderly, who held musical instruments in their hands and sat down on the futon next to the stage.

An old man with a flute played the first note, followed by the other musicians.

Ying Ying listened to the music they played, desolate and gloomy, as if out of the world, but like crying and complaining, she couldn't help but hear God.

At this moment, seven or eight dancers in red kimonos came out from the back of the stage.

The dancers are graceful and graceful, each wearing a mask and a gorgeous gilded hair ornament on their heads.

If she hadn't known in advance that Yamahiko was among the dancers, Ying Ying would have thought that these people were all girls.

The dancers walked onto the stage in a circle, waving their arms and twisting their waists, taking small steps, like branches of a tree, dancing to the desolate music.

Their every movement is extremely well aligned, and although it looks a little weird, it exudes a solemn sense of sacredness.

Although Yingying had never been exposed to such eerie music and dance, her eyes were wide open, and she couldn't take her eyes off her at all.

Riko next to her, who has been holding her waist up, is looking at the dancers on the stage with a proud face.

Ying Ying noticed that one dancer's headdress was a little different from the other dancers, and it was wearing pearls.

Sometimes the dancers form a circle around the dancer in the center, sometimes in a triangle and the dancer is at the very top of the triangle.

Ying Ying found that her eyes unconsciously followed that person.

He has a vigorous figure, a little softness in masculinity, and a bit of fairy in his dancing.

Ying Ying was amazed in her heart, it was so beautiful.

After Kashima finished, the dancers and musicians took a curtain call, and the audience below applauded and applauded.

Lizi took Yingying's hand and walked quickly to the back of the stage while the crowd next to her had not yet begun to move.

Several dancers were still standing in the small forest behind the stage, laughing with each other, their costumes still not changed, but their masks were taken off.

The lead dancer, who was wearing a pearl on his head, was lowering his head to arrange his clothes, and when he looked up at Yingying and them, he hurriedly greeted them.

When Ying Ying saw him, she was immediately pleasantly surprised, "Brother Shanyan, it turns out that you are the lead dancer!"

Satoko looked at her son with a smile on her face, handed over a bottle of mineral water and said, "I danced really well just now." It's been a hard work, so drink some water. ”

Yamahiko took the water, drank it with a bang, and smiled brightly at Yingying.

As he wiped the sweat from his forehead, he asked his mother, "Where are we going next?"

"Of course, I went to see the battle of the portable shrine, and Yingying hasn't seen it yet. Satoko smiled at Yingying.

****

Satoko and his party came to the side of the square, which was already crowded.

Ying Ying saw many people holding long sticks with green or black flower balls on them.

These people lined up in several neat squares, as if waiting to face each other at any time.

Suddenly, there was a shout from the crowd, as if there was a quarrel.

Ying Ying looked over and saw dozens of topless men wearing what looked like sumo shorts.

Some of these men looked like junior high school students and were lean.

Some of them are slightly rich, their belly bags are loose and bulging, and they are already middle-aged.

And among them, there are a few gray-haired old men.

These people are all uniformly dressed and have white ropes tied around their heads.

They kept shouting, and Ying Ying couldn't hear what they were shouting, as if they were boosting morale, and as if they were provoking another team.

And the other team did not show weakness, and shouted in the same way.

The crowd of onlookers watched excitedly, but some of the women stood in the crowd with a nervous expression.

Among the portable shrines are their husbands and children.

They wore a marshal around their waists that their wives or mothers had begged from the shrine the other day to bless them with peace this time.

Carrying a portable shrine is a very dangerous activity, a portable shrine has a weight of at least 500 kilograms, and lifting a portable shrine requires at least more than 20 middle-aged men.

If there is a slight mistake and the portable shrine is pressed on the body, the light fracture may be severe, and the heavy one may die.

This can be seen from the biting lips of the women.

After a while, the door with the portable shrine closed opened, and the shirtless men poured in.

Each of them was well-trained and got under the portable shrine, and each of them stood in his own position, carrying the wooden beam of the portable shrine on his shoulders with a focused expression.

Yingying has seen many things that she has never seen in her life today, and this portable shrine is one of them.

The portable shrine, as the name suggests, is a sedan chair for the gods to ride, and the whole body is gilded, and the phoenix, a sacred bird meaning "auspicious", is also carved on it.

Ying Ying saw the men under the sedan chair, all with solemn faces, waiting for the team leader's order to lift the sedan chair.

Not only to lift it up, but also to lift it high, so that the gods will be happy and closer to heaven.

"One, two, three!" the captain ordered, and everyone counted together, and when it was three, the men gritted their teeth and tensed the muscles of their bodies, bursting with all their strength.

"Lifted, lifted!" burst into applause from the crowd.

The portable shrine was lifted high by a pair of arms stretched out to the sky, and it swayed in the air, looking very dangerous.

Lizi smiled at Yingying: "Look, this is carrying the portable shrine, isn't it fun?"

Ying Ying was full of worries, "The sedan chair looks very heavy, it won't happen, right?"

"They're going to have to fight with other sedan chairs in a while. ”