August 8, 1999. The summer festivals in Ogunimachi. Ogunichmachi City, Niigata Prefecture. With the advent of August, a series of summer festivals began. River running the Shibumi River began as a project by a young men's group called the "Kajika no Kai", the 'The Bullhead Fish Circle". They began the rafting on home made rafts with the slogan, "Regain the clean waters of the Shibumi River". This 8th running of the river, however, will sadly be the last one. I selected a landmark in my town, the 'Kannondo', a temple dedicated to the Kannon, as my photography location. They used to hold a horse race here to pray for the safety of the farm horses. Although that festival was ceased s ince about 1965, it was resurrected a few years ago. The festival however, does not have the gallant atmosphere of old any more. It is rather, a family oriented festival to ride on a horse borrowed from the local riding club and to stroll around the precinct.

	Teams of work colleagues or friends compete for the uniqueness of their ideas for the raft. This year, nine rafts were entered.		The water level is falling because it is used for agriculture due to the boiling heat.
	Children wait their turn to ride a horse. Agriculture has become so mechanized, there is not a single farm horse in Ogunimachi.		In addition to the 'horse's pilgrimage' to enjoy horse riding, there is also the 'rice cake scattering' event during this festival. The rice cake scattering used to be so rough that people would get injured during the event.