Japanese Kagamiwari Celebration

Tonight we celebrated the start of our project with a Kagamiwari - the breaking of the barrel or cask of sake. There were speeches and then the barrel was broken and then everyone drank sake. Afterwards, lots of food. There were about 150 people in attendance. I am the snappy dressed guy in the dark suit with the blue ceremonial jacket holding a wooden mallet in case you are looking for me.

I got to give the "Kanpai" afterwards. This site has the story of the ceremony: kagamiwari