{"id":463855,"date":"2022-01-25T12:26:44","date_gmt":"2022-01-25T03:26:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/visitmatsumoto.com\/?p=463855"},"modified":"2022-01-25T12:26:44","modified_gmt":"2022-01-25T03:26:44","slug":"2022-ice-festival-color-ice-under-cloudy-skies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.visitmatsumoto.com\/en\/uncategorized\/2022-ice-festival-color-ice-under-cloudy-skies\/","title":{"rendered":"2022 Ice Festival: Color & Ice Under Cloudy Skies"},"content":{"rendered":"\"\"\n

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With this past week came Matsumoto\u2019s annual Ice Sculpture Festival, a display not only of some beautiful and impressive works of frozen art but a chance to watch the artists in real time as they turn blocks of ice into fantastical creatures that sparkle brilliantly in front of the castle, under the bright blue sky.<\/p>\n

This year, however, brought some changes. The absence of a bright blue sky, for one.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

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This was the first cloudy Ice Festival Sunday I can remember. In contrast, Saturday was perfect except for the fact that I was tied up and couldn\u2019t get down there to see things for myself. Fortunately, the good people at Welcome Matsumoto<\/a> got some great shots of that preliminary day.<\/p>\n

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photo: welcome-matsumoto.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another change from previous years was the omission of the ice slide, which has always been a treat for the kids. This was replaced with something that, while perhaps not quite as heart-pounding, was new and novel and fun to be a part of.<\/p>\n

While a trio of men carved flower-shaped holes into rectangular blocks of ice, children crowded around a crate filled with paint in squeeze cans, each of them choosing a color or two and filling those holes in the ice.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

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The result was a constant stream of people edging in to snap pictures of the display of ice and color, made that much more striking with the persistent grays overhead.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

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There were additional ice sculptures scattered around town, plus this banner created by students of Arigasaki High School and displayed along the path leading into the castle grounds.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

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\u201cWe inherit the lives of the past and live in the present. Your loving actions tie you to this one life. Let\u2019s spin a happy future together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed. Rain or shine.<\/p>\n