東、西大会 (East, Meet West
The Yonabaru Matsuri came into town over the weekend, and to my surprise nobody got seriously maimed or beaten. It was the first time in several years that the festival has come through and there wasn't a torrential downpour to go along with it. As a result, everyone and their grandmama's grandmama's favorite rapper's baby daddy was in the joint. The only JETs we ran into were Rebekha, Reanna, and Rich (coincidence that they all had R names...or conspiracy?) but we managed to stumble upon a slew of past characters like Yonabaru's own Norman something or other, Rip and his wife, old students galore, our favorite drunken eisa dancers, and even those crazy ass kids from Nishihara we met at Kira Kira Beach that rubbed the shit out of our heads a couple months back.
Yonabaru Matsuri's claim to fame is it's tug-of-war competition that comes second onto to the massive one in Naha during the fall. Just like that tug-of-war, the Yonabaru one pits residents of the east and west sides against each other in a battle to the death.
These dudes' sole purpose is to stand on the rope and shout insults at you. It's called motivation.
I stopped taking pictures just long enough to grab a piece of rope and join in the fun. In the end, our side won. Which side that was I couldn't tell you. I sure hope it was west Yonabaru though. I've been repping for the east side since 2009...little did I know that the Eastern Shore (Agarihama) is actually the western most part of Yonabaru. Way to confuse me, guys.
As is customary after smiting people, there was the victory dance upon some corpses.
I have a feeling that someone, somewhere snipped off some of the rope with the intention of using it in the bedroom. And it wasn't even me.
What are Tetsuhisa and Erika gawking at?
Only the best. thing. ever. The Yonbaru 3! These guys tend to make an appearance at every Yonabaru Matsuri, vanquishing evil and saving creepy drunk old dudes (we have a lot of those). This year wasn't any different. They need to step their game up like the Power Rangers though and increase their membership to five. I heard Ryujin Mabuya and Ganasea are looking for employment.
Wouldn't be a matsuri without the obligatory Eisa performance. Our friend, Tetsuji is in this group and they perform at damn near every event that goes down in Yonabaru Town. He's a beast on the oversized drum.
He even let MaryAnn take it for a spin.
The festival was capped off like it always is: with fireworks and people clogging up the streets trying to make their way home. As I snacked on a piece of spicy ass Lawson's chicken, I thought to myself, sucks to be those guys.