The Fremantle Street Arts Festival, held over the Easter long weekend, experienced the richness of Japan this year, with Nagoya City’s Omotenashi Busho-Tai samurai troupe coming to Australia to wow crowds with the traditions of Japanese warriors.
Fremantle and Nagoya signed a Sister Ports Agreement in 1983, celebrating their 30th anniversary of friendly relations last year. The Omotenashi Busho-Tai’s tour to Fremantle was made possible thanks to this special Sister Ports relationship.
To the delight of Festival-goers, three members of the Busho-Tai, Tokugawa Ieyasu (left), Toyotomi Hideyoshi (centre), and Toma (right) performed twice each day of the three-day event, promoting Nagoya’s rich history and Japan’s samurai culture.
Each performance started with a loud victory cheer “Ei-Ei-Oh!”, followed by an armour dance, introduction of troupe members, a “quiz corner” introduction to Nagoya, a samurai workshop with audience participation, and a photo session with audience members’ cameras and smartphones, with many photos appearing on social media sites within minutes.
At the Street Arts Festival, performers from Australia and around 10 other countries gathered and performed in 16 locations around Fremantle, making for a colourful international event. In particular, the group from Nagoya delighted crowds with an authentic Japanese samurai experience. The audience enthusiastically joining the victory cheer with the samurai made one feel as if they were performing in their native Nagoya. Inviting audience members on stage during the samurai workshop, the troupe performed swordfight demonstrations, with the public joining in, striking signature swordfight poses, their serious expressions recorded with many camera clicks.
The day after the Festival’s conclusion, thanks to the cooperation of the Consulate General of Japan in Perth, the Mayor of Fremantle, Dr Brad Pettit visited the Japanese Consul General’s official residence, taking a commemorative photograph with the Nagoya Omotenashi Busho-Tai. Both cities’ representatives then exchanged gifts to mark the occasion.
<Note>
The Nagoya Omotenashi Busho-Tai, made up of six samurai generals with connections to Nagoya (Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Kato Kiyomasa, Maeda Toshiie, and Maeda Keiji) and four foot soldiers, was created concurrently with the 400th anniversary of Nagoya’s founding to demonstrate the splendour of Nagoya to the entire country.
Their main activity is omotenashi (hospitality) toward visitors including greeting tourists at Nagoya Castle every day, guiding sightseeing tours, and posing for commemorative pictures.
