We left Honjo at about 13:30 in 3 cars and headed for the Inukko Matsuri. This dog festival has large snow sculptures of houses and dogs. This year the weather has been warmer and although it was snowing while we were there, it hadn't snowed in about a week and a half beforehand. So the sculptures we not as impressive as the pictures I had seen from last year. Many were broken or melting, but still it was impressive. And we got given free sake and had festival food, and spoke to random Japanese people who wanted to practice their English.
Next we headed for Yokote, to the Kamakura festival. This festival has hundreds of Kamakuras of various sizes. Some are 2 metres tall others are about a foot in height. The larger are made by piling up and compacting snow, then the inside is hollowed out. Local people relax inside the Kamakuras while drinking hot Amazake and eating grilled mochi. They welcome anyone in to share with them and to take pictures. They have large sculptures too, one was a large sumo wrestler which Phil titled Asa-snow-ryū after Asashōryū; currently the best yokozuna in sumo.
By the river there were hundreds of small kamakura that elementary children had built. We all tried our best to take nice photos of them, but night photos are difficult to take! I like this one though!
It was getting close to 19:00 so we needed to get moving. Phil's younger brother who is here on holidays here at the moment was to partake in, and hopefully not become the next death victim of the Takeuchi festival.
The Takeuchi festival is one of the more different festivals I've encountered. The small town of Rokugō divides into two teams, the north team and the south team. They are fighting for their livelihoods, and their lives! It is believed that if the south team wins, this traditional festival, the price of rice will go up. And if the north team wins, it is believed that the following season with yield a good harvest. Both outcomes are beneficial for the small town! Foreigners are allowed participate in this festival, but must be on the south team.
So armed with 20-foot bamboo poles and wearing a variety of different helmets, including motorbike, hockey, snowboard and hardhats the two teams line up. They drink some more sake, rattle their poles together to psyche themselves up, and await the bell to signal round one!
When the fight begins the bamboo poles crash down on the heads, shoulders, or backs of the opposing team members. The poles are then raised back up, if possible, and strike back down again. The poles often shatter from the impact and become even more dangerous. As the round progresses the poles are no longer used so people resort to punching and kicking each other. And as much alcohol has been consumed it often takes a while to break up the fights after the bell has been rung to end the round.
The fighters have about 10 minutes to gather their wounded members and regroup. The poles are removed from the battlefield and new poles are distributed. Again the bell is rung, more people get cracked on the head, after a while the bell signals again, and the fighting has to be broken up again.
Before the 3rd and final round there is a ceremony. And in the centre of the battlefield two huge fires are lit. The poles with flags at the top are ignited. Its then time for round 3!
I'm not sure how they decide who the winner is; it may have to do with how far the opposition is pushed back. Maybe! I think the winner is not so important to many of the people who have forgotten about the festival and just want to fight! This year the festival was not as aggressive as last year. Many people were more injured last year. Some of my friends were knocked to the ground and kicked in the head. One had broken teeth; another had large cuts under both his eyes. This year I didn't see any of that! A little disappointing! Below is a picture of one of the guys from last year.
Below is a picture of Scottish Dave after his experience of the festival last year. He got separated from his group and singled out, something he ensured didn't happen this time around!
Around 21:00 we decided to head for home. It had been snowing all day, so there was a lot of snow on the roads. I was in David's jeep and we were speaking of how recently I had been driving behind a friend on the way to a ski jo, when she lost control on a straight road, spun 180 degrees and bounced of the far side of the road. We were discussing the best way to react in such a situation; we both agreed that braking was not the way to go! Then 10 minutes later as we were going around a bend in Ouchi, a little faster that what would have been a safe speed for the conditions, we lost control of the jeep. In fairness David's reaction was very good and he avoided the initial instinct to step on the brakes. We were going around a turn to the right, but we were heading for the right barrier. David contained the jeeps slide and managed to get it to veer back to the left, unfortunately he overcompensated slightly and then we were heading for the left barrier. We braced for the inevitable impact, which was absorbed well by the barrier and the fact that we hit it on an angle. We were both fine. We pulled the car off the road to have a look. The bullbar took most of the impact, but was pushed back into the car at an angle, and one of the lights was smashed.
We drove to the nearest convenience store and took another look. Now we realised that the radiator was leaking quickly. So we thought it best to leave it there till the morning. I rang one of the other cars to let them know what happened and to get a life. So when Phil arrived David and myself packed into Phil's car that already had 4 people in it!
We had a cosy journey back to Honjo. But just about 100 metres from our destination at a traffic light, we needed to make a right. The conversation was about what Phil’s name would be if he were a superhero. It was decided he would be called Wolver-rib; he currently has a cracked rib from a snowboarding accident. As we waited for a space to go, or the green arrow I was looking out through the windscreen that had only one wiper working. In a moment of madness Wolver-rib forgot that six people were in his aging car, that there was a solid layer of snow on the road, that he wasn’t in fact a superhero, and decided to go through a small space between a car and a large truck! As our acceleration was very slow, I watched the truck approach, my eyes widening with every metre it approached. Finally the car wheels stopped spinning on the snow and managed to get some grip, we just avoided the truck, but the car wasn't completely interested in going where the wheels were pointing. Wolver-rib’s brother words were “I don’t think you’d make a very good superhero!” And with that we crashed straight into the barrier in front of us!
Two car crashes in under an hour, and I still wasn't home. I removed the thick layer of snow from my car and drove home very slowly!
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