Yabusame

This weekend was amazing. It all started with Tongue Twister Friday in Kishira Junior High. I took copies of Peter Piper, How much wood…, and She sells seashells. The students and teachers had a great time. They also took the liberty of teaching me some Japanese ones. We did a few relays with the tongue twisters in both English and Japanese. Anyway, the English teacher, Kanae, invited Cristina and I to hike the following day with her sister and the Japanese teacher, Hiromi. I thought it sounded like a great idea so I agreed. Later that night, we drove to Kanoya to as usual for our Japanese lessons. An hour before class started we had rosemary-seasoned fries and a latte in the Bluebird Tea Room. This café looks exactly like something that would be in the same family as The Top or Satchelz in Gainesville. It has a crayon blue ceiling inside and matching walls outside. The décor is an eclectic collection of what appears to be dated flea market finds reminiscent of the 1960s. Even the waiters don’t look so much Japanese and wear some indie-rock outfits just like they do at The Top. We promise to take pictures for next time. The store next door is a cross between a bar, a barber shop and a music store/venue. It is decorated in the same manner as the Bluebird Tea Room with some random hammocks tossed in the mix. After I finished most of my homework, we were off to Yotsumoto-sensei’s house for some nihongo-ing.

The next day we went back to Kanoya to meet Kanae, Ho-san, and Hiromi at a book shop so we can go hiking. We drove to the town on the other side of Uchinoura, facing Kinko Bay rather than the Pacific. We were not able to take the usual route that they would take because of some fallen rocks. So, it took a bit longer than expected. When we got there, we hiked up for about 20 minutes to the apex. You could see all of Kagoshima from this mountain. It was simply stunning. There was also a set of rocks that jetted out that I was too frightened to climb all the way, but Cristina and Hiromi did. I sat with Cristina on the them for a quick picture. It reminded me of the rock where they lift Simba on in The Lion King. Anyway, you get the idea. There was a great view and we had much fun hanging out with some friendly Japanese folk. They also informed us of the climb up Mt. Fuji. Apparently it is an overnight 8-hour hike to the pinnacle. You catch the view at 8 a.m. and then you hike back down. Cristina seems interested in doing this. I am still not too sure as to how I feel about it.

After climbing the mountain, they took us to Nejime Otaki Park. This is a park with a couple of big waterfalls. It was also very breathtaking to see a large waterfall having never seen one that large before. This is no Niagara, but it still quite impressive. After the waterfall park, they took us to a place where we had some amazing pork ramen.

The rest of the afternoon, Cristina and I decided to go shopping for some winter wear. We started out at Uniqlo when we realized that we only had about $130 between the two of us. We tried to go to the post office to get some money, but they were closed. Therefore, we were not going to be able to buy what we wanted to including a hot carpet for Cristina. We still went to shopping though. We decided to go to some new stores that we had not been to before. Boy was that an experience in itself. We went into this one store with some cool punk-looking clothing called Road Runner. However, the music that was playing the entire time was from a Backstreet Boys CD. The two did not exactly mesh. After Road Runner, we went to Shoe Plaza where Cristina found a pair of red sneakers that she fell in love with, but that they did not have in her size. After that, we went to Mac Jeans Warehouse Plaza. Another very cool store that carried Levi’s and some other European stuff. A lot of it is what we could consider in the States kind of vintage or indie-rock-ish. I actually ended up buying a $60 Dickies coat for $10. I am not exactly sure why it was so cheap, but there were several more for the same price. In any case, this is not why I come to mention this store. When we first entered, there was a song that was blasting very loudly that is absolutely the most vulgar thing that any English-speaker will probably ever hear in a song. The worst part about it was that it was all very clear and discernible unlike rap. Therefore, Cristina and I felt very awkward being in this family clothing store (it had a kid section) listening to this song. It was very strange. Later that night, we returned to Higashi-Kushira and had some \100 sushi.

Sunday was Yabusame, Koyama’s famous festival. It is very difficult to describe the feeling during this festival but I will try. We arrived in Koyama at noon. We walked up and down the streets until we found a booth we wanted to buy lunch from. We ate kebabs from these middle-easterners, Greeks or Turks that own an Indian restaurant in Kanoya. Then, we ate as we walked over to the Shrine where the event was going to take place. In Koyama, there is a long narrow street that leads to a shrine up on a hill. The street was divided in half with bamboo poles attached by string creating a roped off area for spectators and a means for hanging some white paper foldings. The other half of the street was covered in wet sand. Now, here is a little background to this tradition. Every year a junior high school boy is chosen, usually the liveliest, healthiest, (wealthiest) boy. He is sequestered from females (or maybe just his mother and sisters, I didn’t really understand) for the period of a month. He is to practice for that month how to shoot arrows at targets from horseback while charging down this long alleyway. The fate of the town and its harvest rests on the number of arrows that hit the targets. The boy that was on horseback the year before, runs after this year’s archer as fast as he can to mount the horse if the archer should fall. The boy has to this while wearing face paint and a big hat with confetti flying and all. Usually during events like this the Japanese are always screaming Gambatte kudasai or Gambare, Gambare, Gambare (meaning do your best). During this event, there fell a hush over the crowd that was electrifying. To top it all off, the sky appeared quite ominous due to the approaching typhoon. We were standing at one side of the street in front of the shrine. The boy had to parade back and forth holding his bow up in the air and a huge stick to represent an arrow. There were all these old men parading around him in archery garb which I can only assume are his teachers or past years’ archers. The boy must ride on the horse ushered by these men in three circles in front of the shrine before being shot like a slingshot into this alley. All the meanwhile, the boys face was serious as can be. He looked scared senseless. We are not exactly sure of the numbers of arrows that hit the targets. We are sure at least 5 out of 9, perhaps 6. As the boy was ushered to the shrine, he was crying. I can only assume from the amount of pent up tension and anxiety. I apologize if this explanation of the event is a little unclear, but I would hope that the pictures we post assist in clearing it up.

Well, I hope you enjoyed reading about our weekend as much as we enjoyed living it.