Taikusai

Last weekend was to have been a sports day extravaganza, but the elements didn't agree. This led to a long series of re-scheduling plans, ending in a mid-week sports fest and two teaching-free days for myself. Hurrah indeed.

I only saw the afternoon events, starting with Shougaibutsu, a comedy relay race, reminiscent of It's a Knockout or Takeshi's Castle. Being the resident English monkey, I was asked to start the race in English. I was accompanied by one of the teachers acting as a translator, "on your marks, get set..." being incomprehensible to the sensitive Japanese ear. I feel that my companion was a bit superfluous, as I was provided with a starting pistol, which strikes me as a pretty universal signal to run.

Anyway, the Shougaibutsu was a riot. Each runner had their own obstacle; bursting balloons by sitting on them, crawling through a net, carrying a ball with a partner (back to back), balancing a tennis ball on a paddle, finding an unspecified object in a bucket of flour (using ones face) and completeing the last leg after spinning ten times around a baseball bat. This veritable ballet unfolded to a "comedy" ska soundtrack, blaring through a sizeable speaker system & reminding me that Japan has nothing in the way of noise pollution laws.

Other notable races included the Mukade, or centipede race, where a line of five students with their ankles tied together march up to two more lines, creating the titular insect, with hilarious results. Then there was the Kibasen, the "horse war". Basically three students form a human horse, whilst another stands on their hands & shoulders, and tries to knock over their opponent (on another human horse) - it's insanely exciting, and is only made more so by the chanting, clapping and frenzied Taiko banging. A teacher that I don't have the best relationship with remarked "Igirisu ja nai, ne?" (you don't have this in England, do you?) "Made in Japan". This comment awoke my inner arse, as I silently fumed "I bet that it's from China, or Mongolia or anywhere in Asia other than Japan, you arrogant little *@#^!" (can you spot a certain beligerence in this weeks entry?) All I've been able to find out so far is that the game may have its roots in Hindu mythology...watch this space...

Maybe the most Japanese thing I saw that day was the eight-hundred metres. One girl in particular was weeping openly and limping in an unsettling fashion before she started. She spoke to her teacher, who merely patted her on the back with a hearty "Gambatte! (keep your spirits up) before plonking her onto the front line. She looked frankly terrified before she started running, and she didn't stop crying. The pistol went off, as did the students. Naturally, she lagged behind, and I watched in horror, thinking "why the hell is she running on that leg?". As the race finished, some students collapsed in tears and exhaustion. The girl I had noticed at the start finished last, but now she wasn't crying. She ran the entire race. I was in absolute awe, but slightly disturbed and confused at the same time. Was it better to have been pushed into finishing a race (through peer pressure or old fashioned authority) with a wonky leg, or to rest and not run? Chariots of Fire has never seemed so appropriate as it did then.

So anyway, this weekend, we've been graced with not one, but three festivals...

...the Design Festa








Those gentlemen were very heavy indeed.


...Oda Matsuri...






...and the legendary Sanja Matsuri...






...and I still have no idea what it's about.