Japan 2012: Yabusame (09/16/12)
Warnings: 60 images, lots of talking about things I don't really know anything about.
Had a fairly relaxed morning before heading over to Tokyo Station.
Hey, thanks Tintin! Thanks Snowy! I WILL have a nice day.
Gosh I love seeing the different trains.
We were waiting for a while for our train. Can you tell?
Luckily for me, everything was neat to look at! Huzzah!
When our train arrived, we hopped on and headed to Kamakura! We were going to check out eh Grand Festival! I'm sure if that's the "official" title of it, but it's what I saw it as so it's what I'm calling it. I apologize it that's not the correct name. (Please let me know if it's not!!) The Grand Festival is a multiple days of celebration at Tsurugaoka Hachimangu, mostly different Shinto rituals. Nur and I both wanted to see the releasing of the bell crickets that was in the evening the day we were there, but it was too late for us. But it's alright! We saw what we REALLY wanted to, the yabusame!
When we got there, it was already really crowded. I needed to use the restroom and had to wait like 20min for it! Gah! And then, a couple minutes after we started walking to the shrine, it started raining! Like… POURING. Everyone around took shelter where they could and we waited out the storm. Eventually it got light enough that we deemed it safe to continue and made our way over while praying that it wouldn't rain again.
The first time we went to Kamakura was one of the most difficult days (weather-wise) of my entire existence. It was like the city was trying to remind us of the suffering it put us through back then. (Spoilers: this time was yucky too, but we still had a pretty awesome time!)
You can see all the rain clouds hanging around. This is the main entrance to the shrine.
So I guess we just… follow the crowds!
Luckily, it wasn't too hard to find the yabusame grounds. Yabusame is horseback archery. So basically, it's pretty close to the most badass thing ever. This is one of the three target areas. The target itself isn't up yet, but it goes on the black board (I think!).
We found a spot to stand and wait for it to begin. Priests and priestesses came in and out of the area we waited in most of our wait.
One of the archer attendents! All of the archers and their attendents were wearing outfits in the style of the Kamakura period (1185-1333).
CROW!
We got there over an hour early, and as time went by more and more people shoved their way into our viewing area. I wouldn't have minded that much except they'd shove their way in to the FRONT of the area and get the best view. You assholes came later that us, get in the freaking back!! I was lucky, I was next to a fence, so I could pull myself up a bit and take photos a bit above everyone's heads.
They announced it was time to start and told us not to use flash photography (I guess some time back it spooked a horse and sent it into the crowd, yiiiikes!) and that the ritual sake ceremony(?) was going to be first. Sweet. I dunno what this ceremony is, but BRING IT, I am SO excited.
…the ceremony was not on the yabusame grounds. =T
We sat there for 40 minutes, having no idea what was going on. By this time, the clouds were starting to part (it hadn't rained again, phew!!) and it was heating up. But it was so wet because of the rain, the humidity was WAY up and everyone was getting sticky and restless.
They paraded the archers and their attendents.
I love these outfits.
I felt bad for everyone in their traditional clothing , it looked so warm! March on, you brave people!
I LOVE the deer skin flap/chaps/whatever, I think they look SO neat. And those arrows are so long. SO COOL!
The variety of colors and patterns on the clothes is really neat. I wonder if it's just a taste sort of thing or if it's certain colors/patterns for certain families?
Oh, by the way, if you watched the anime Tari Tari, I believe the girl who likes horseback riding wanted to do yabusame for this shrine. /random information
Armor!
I could gush about these outfits and bows and everything allll daaaaay long. But I won't.
Click to viewI tried to take video of every archer, but none of them turned out well. Here's the best of the bunch. You can hear the announcer say something right before each target, then hear the TWACK of the arrow. If I'm not mistaken, this archer hits all three of the targets.
Three(?) groups of archers of rode through and most people left. Every time one group would finish, people would leave and I would try to sneak up a little closer. During the last flight of archers I was clinging to the side of a tree, hahaha. After the last flight, some very kind people let me come right up to the divider bar. Thanks, nice people!!! T^T
It was a great spot, I was right next to the action! Even though the archery part was over, the archers all came back through again.
I figured it would probably be better to just take video instead of a million pictures. Sorry for the shakiness!
The main attraction over, it was time to explore a bit on the shrine grounds. I don't know what this shrine is for.
I don't know what is special about these rocks.
I don't know what this stone says. But I DO know that it looks like a Western-style gravestone!
Over the bridge is the main area of the shrine.
Hey HEY ARCHER (attendant) GUYS! YOU'RE AWESOME!
I don't know what this shrine is for.
I too this because that dude in the middle-left has a drum. =D
I think this is where they had the sake ceremony(?). We saw them moving stuff from it.
The main shrine building is up there. Right next to the steps was a 1,000 year old ginko tree that was blown over in 2010. I'm not sure it's the area that is marked off with rope or that giant stump to the left.
Sake offerings!
That sake ceremony area again!
Flower arranging…?
I'm gonna guess that giant stump is what remains of the ginko tree.
Nobody will notice if one of these arrows goes missing, right? It's strictly for…research purposes, I swear!!
Look, you guys have TWO sets of these! All I ask is ONE arrow! Just ONE! …and I'll totally be able to take it through security on the airplane, lol.
Koma-inu bro!
Other koma-inu bro!
The view from the top of the stairs. I love the path that leads to the shrine. It's easy to find your way here, just follow the big torii!
This is part of the main shrine building. It's REALLY big. You can see some people inside for size comparison.
But… what's that I sense? Could it be… an Inari shrine...?
NEVER UNDERESTIMATE MY KITSUNE SENSE!
Though let's be honest, Inrari shrines are pretty common. The chances that there would be one here were pretty dang high. Doesn't make each Inari shrine less awesome!
And Inari shrines mean I photograph every kitsune I can find!
I decided to make my offereings here instead of at the main shrine because… well.. I like me some Inari shrines. But I forgot to take my hat off while doing so (I didn't even think about it until I kind old man told me), and I feel bad for that. Sorry, Inari-sama!
The yabusame area! I like all the hoof prints in the middle area where the archers rode.
This was a festival! We needed festival food! …but there wasn't that many stands or anything. Nur was disappointed because he wanted takoyaki, but I was happy with my shaved ice.
Awesome lady drummers and a shishi(?) dancer costume.
Oh what a little cutie!! His mom seemed to be working at the festival. I love his little apron! It's a shame it blends in with his pants here. =\
Time to go back to the station!
Sleepy rickshaw driver.
Teeny tiny omikoshi!
Copper.
Do you want some lumber?
This building looked really cool.
BIIIIG koma-inu!
And his super happy bro.
They guard the path to the shrine.
Well, I can't say I've seen any hotter carrots than these...
Headed back to Ueno and decided to get dinner at a nearby ramen shop. The place was sword-themed. We had been there before and the ramen was okay, but they specialized in tsukemen (dipping ramen) and we wanted to try that. It was SO FLIPPING GOOD. I DREAM about this stuff now. I cannot wait to go back to Japan and get it again. *_*
Got some ice cream after dinner and went back to the hotel. I had to work on a Takama-ga-hara chapter and Nur started packing.
I had these food packages from Enoshima that I was afraid of trying to bring back in good condition, so I flattened them out best I could. Here's that cookie box.
The inside of the box.
I had no Akira cookies, boooooo. But the others are really cute!
Just one more post left! I'm hoping to get it up in a couple days. =)