Wednesday, 10 June 2009

• Giant Kites and Octopus Balls

   

   

  Giant Kites and Octopus Balls.

   

  In Japan, everything has a time and a place.  You can expect certain things to happen simply because it’s that time of the year.  Sunday was one of those times.  For 350 years in the village of Shirome there has been an annual kite fighting festival.  The origin of this event is essentially an Asian version of the Hatfields and McCoys feud set in Japan.  Shirome has a man-made river that runs through it.  The river bisects the town into the West and East Banks.  Each of the Banks were responsible for the upkeep of their side of the river and the levees that protected the rice fields from flooding.  In May, 1737, the local ruling family, the Mizoguchi Clan, celebrated the birth of a son and invited the head of East Shirone village, Kamiyama Chubei to the party.  In honor of the son, a giant kite, daiko, made of 30 paper panes was built.  At the end of the celebration, the kite was given to Kamiyama-san as a token of thanks for the work he and the East Bankers had done on the levees.  Kamiyama decided he had to rub the West Bankers’ nose in the fact that the East Bankers had been honored and they hadn’t and took the kite down to the river to fly it.  The kite got off the ground but crashed on the west side into the house of a farmer named Mataemon.  Mataemon had a long standing grudge against the East Bankers and he took this accident as a deliberate insult towards him and all West Bankers.  With the help of his friends and neighbors, Mataemon built another giant kite.  The West Bankers took the kite to the river, launched it and kamikazed Kamiyama’s house with it.  Lord Mizoguchi put the kibosh on the escalating kite war by declaring the two sides would hold a kite fighting festival. So, each year the two sides of Shirome gather on the banks of the Nakakuchigawa to see who gets splashed and who soars to victory.  

   

  We started the day with a trip to Shirone's Kite Museum.

  

  As you enter in, there is this wall hanging to your left. The kanju is the word tako or kite.   It's a symbol that most of the people in the kite fights have on their clothes.

   

  How big  are these kites?  The woman in the middle of this photo is 5' 3".  Most of the fighting kites are 30 feet long by 12-15 feet wide.  The usual theme on a kite is either a samurai hero or one of the Shito gods.

  However, not all of the kite at the museum were fighting kites.

  These ones are for one_eared_batman and like_a_tiguh

   

  An old fashion farm house.                 A dragon kite. 

     

   

  A butterfly                                             Sailor Moon

  

  I found these ladies hiding in a cubbie.

  

  And this  chorus line above Laura in a small wing on the second floor.

  and my favorites are these two.

  A lion dog

    

  and a carp.

  

  We left the museum at about 5 and made it to the river in time to watch some of the o-dako get lanched  Each kite has a team of 30-40 men and woman running with the kite rope to try and get their kite up and flying. 

  

  Once up and airborne, the kite's crew tries to either snap their rival's rope or force it down into the river.  First kite down loses.  The crew gets their instructions from their captain by a series of whistles, so the whole fight is one loud chaotic free for all.

  While the kites foght, we had a quick supper of yaki soba (fried noodles with vegetables and pork), karage,(deep fried chicken), po-po yaki (a steamed bread), and tako yaki (octopus dough balls).  I like the tako yaki best.  It's good, but a bit like chewing rubber bands.

  After the last fight the kites that were still intact were rolled up and moved to be stored.  Here are a few of the teams with their kites.

  Yes, boys, a woman CAN  be a team leader.

   

  This poor guy's hauling off part of his kite that got splashed in a fight.  Better luck next year, fella.

   

  

  These kites will be taken apart and put into storege until next year or they might end up on display in the museum.

  We headed home after the last kite passed both tired and excited.

   

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