Hello and sorry to my faithful readers who have surely lost interest in my un-updated blog. My only excuse and consolation is that I’ll be updating quite a bit from here to catch up on things I’ve missed as well as to show the last couple trips I’ve done in the final stretch of this year’s nonstop adventure. So without further adieu I will tell you about…
Yamakasa Festival
Yamakasa is held once a year in parts of Tenjin and Hakata for a period of about a month. It commemorates a ceremony that farmers and residence used to do to encourage good weather and healthy harvests. It has now evolved to some sort of crazy and nearly impossibe to understand festival that is really one of the most interesting and entertaining things to watch in all of Fukuoka.
Staring in awe...
What happens is…
Hundreds, perhaps thousands of men, young boys and even some young girls dress up in a very specific outfit that is best described as a thin strip of fabric wrapped around the groin like a loin cloth and a traditional Japanese shirt with the emblem of either the festival or a family crest inscribed onto the back. Huge shrines are displayed all over the city months prior to the start of the festival and on the 15th of July, all the participants (mostly men) let everything hang out and hoist the huge 40 foot tall shrines onto their shoulders, run around the city on a designated paths and race other men from other provinces and prefectures in Fukuoka for the pride and glory of being champions of Yamakasa that year. The floats are elaborately decorated and show figures and scenes that depict Japanese life in all different eras. On top of carrying the shrine, they also have 3 men on the float yelling “Oisa! Oisa! Oisa!” and constantly pouring water on the people around them to prevent overheating and it is a practice that is a remnant of the original ritual of blessing the people around the float. Rumor has it that the idea of the race started after two floats were made one year and one of them passed the other one. The logical evolution of stupid male pride results in what we know today as the largest gathering of men in giant diapers in Fukuoka.
Stretch it out...
The contestants take this very seriously and those who don't practice the handoffs of the floats enough run the risk of falling under the feet of their fellow runners.
Nothing that dramatic happened this year though thank God.
It’s a sight that sounds ridiculous when described and even more ridiculous to see. Despite starting exactly at 4:59 AM and it being pouring wet this year, I’m glad to have been able to witness this strange and unforgettable sight at least once in my life.
