Today we got up a little early and left for a town called Ikaho (in Gunma prefecture). We went to an onsen ryokan called The Fukuichi. When we first got there, we were too early for check-in, but Chika and I changed into our yukatas and then we went into the town to check out the festival that was happening that day. We got to see them carrying what's known as an omikoshi down some really narrow steps. Omikoshi are "little" mobile shrines, and during these festivals, the god of a particular shrine is supposed to come out of the temple and into the omikoshi, and the people of the village carry it through the streets, and then bring it back to the shrine to return the god to its home.
After we saw that and visited the shrine at the top of the stairs, we went back to check in and go for our first dip in the hot springs. Chika and I are planning to visit 2 more hot springs in Kyuushuu next week, so it was nice to go with her parents first so her dad could show me around. Basically, you're supposed to wash yourself off first, and then you can get in the hot spring, which I already knew, but there's lots of other little subtleties that I wouldn't have known.
After that we had dinner in a private room. The dinner was lots of little things, but the emphasis is more on "lots" than "little".
After dinner, we went back outside to see them return the omikoshi to the shrine and then they paraded it around in circles for a while taking turns supporting the 4 beams that ran underneath it.
After that (and after we had waited out the alcohol) we went to the hot spring again before going back to our rooms to go to sleep.
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