I Like Pigeons Because Nobody Else Does

The Soma Nomaoi festival started over 1000 years ago in the year 973 when the founder of the Soma family, Taira no Masakado, used wild horses in a military exercise in which he released them on the plains for his cavalry to pursue and capture. In the following years the custom was passed on to successive clan leaders as an homage to the clan and also Shinto deities.

We left Yokosuka at 3am. I looked around at the other passengers on the bus and was shocked to find myself the only one not sleeping. How on earth anyone can sleep when going to a new place is beyond me. It gets light here at 4:30am and by that time we were heading out the north end of Tokyo, leaving the concrete behind and entering into the countryside. It was so nice to get out of the city - even if only for a day – and breathe fresh air.

We arrived at 9am and I paired up with a really cool chick named Nathalie. Not wanting to be seen with a group of loud Americans, we quickly bailed out and made our way to the parade or ogyouretsu お行列. We found seats on the curb, but that didn’t suit the trio of ojiisans (grandpas) behind us who insisted we sit we sit in the shade with them as soon as they rearranged themselves and made room.  I’m always a hit with the old men here as soon as I start unleashing the Canon camera equipment.

I’m a fan of Akira Kurosawa movies and what I saw coming down the street made me feel as if I were in Ran or Seven Samurai - legions of samurai on the backs of horses of the highest athletic caliber, complete with swords at their sides were making their way down the street. Nathalie and I stood there agape for the entirety of the parade. The reason they looked real was because this was about as real as it gets without access to a time machine. I read in my festival guide that the armor, helmets, swords and horse tack are all original and not reproductions. Most of them have been passed down through the years from father to son.

The festival spans 3 days, but we were there on the second day which has the most action.  After the parade, all 600 riders filed into a racetrack area and prepared for kacchu-keiba 甲冑競馬, or race of 10 riders and horses at a time. Ten horses and riders gathered at a starting point and raced once around the track or 1000 meters.

The shinki-sodatsusen 神旗争奪戦、or flag scramble, started at 1pm with an explosion of fireworks directly above the grass field inside the racetrack. Out of the explosion fell two flags which the boiling throng of horses and men were waiting to catch. The triumphant knight who catches the flag breaks from the scrum and charges up the hill on a path winding through the spectators to claim his prize.

This was definitely one of the coolest things I’ve done here and I am so glad I didn’t let the early departure dissuade me from going.  The festival has been designated as Important Cultural Property and seems to have some notoriety outside Japan. I saw a crew of western filmmakers there, but I couldn’t tell what kind of white they were. I’d love to know what they were all about but they were busy filming the action and I didn’t want to bug them. Besides, I had my own photography to take care of and wasn’t in the mood to waste time socializing. Their t-shirts said “Soma 2007 Documentary Film Crew” or something like that. So if someone sees anything about this on TV in the coming years, please let me know.

I guess the really appealing aspect of this was the history. Being American means you probably don’t have too deep of a cultural history. Half the people there don’t even know what their real family names were before they were butchered and abbreviated when coming through Ellis Island. I just can’t imagine having such a deep and old history like this. It must be so cool to be such an integral part of a country and its land.

The samurai festival was simply unbelievable. It may have been the coolest cultural event I’ve seen here, but I am really interested in samurai history. To see people you’ve only read about in history books, as if they just stepped out of a time machine, was something I’ll never forget. I am busy today and most of the day tomorrow with lessons so I don’t have a whole lot of time to do a write-up right now. I took over 500 photos and I need to sort through them and do some editing. So check back for a decent narrative and photos later this week. Here are a few in the meantime:

With the frenetic zeal of Lancastrians scurrying to the grocery store on a bread and milk mission, the Navy jokers shut the whole place down yesterday in anticipation of typhoon Man-Yi. And then nothing happened. The storm broke up and all we got was some heavy rain. Hardly even any blowing. By 5pm I could look across the bay and see the sun shining in Chiba. I was hoping for some exciting extreme weather, but was sorely disappointed.  The typhoon did some serious damage on the southern islands, but had petered out by the time it moved north to Tokyo.

I went to a BBQ at a friend’s house on Saturday, but the party was kept indoors by the heavy rain from the approaching typhoon. As you can see from the photo, we were limited to grilling yakitori from the patio door.

I have a couple of things going on in the next week. One of my students, Mr Hanzawa is an accomplished musician and I am going to one of his practice sessions on Sunday and then joining the group at an izakaya afterwards. Next Tuesday I am going on a base-sponsored bus trip to Fukushima, about 6 hours north of here, to a huge samurai festival called the Soma Nomaoi Battle Festival:

Soma-Nomaoi is a Shinto ritual annually held for 3 days from July 23 to 25 in Minami Soma City, Fukushima Pref. In this historical event, 500 mounted horsemen in traditional samurai armor ride through the towns and head for the open field, where they scramble for shrine flags of the three Myoken Shrines in this region and pursue unsaddled horses to capture as offerings to a Shinto deity. Soma-Nomaoi has its origin in a military exercise done more than 1,000 years ago by General Taira no Masakado, the ancestor of the later holders of the Soma clan, in which he released wild horses on to the plain for his cavalry to pursue and capture. The residents of ancient “Go (an administrative territory)” act as samurai horsemen, and each “Go” belongs to one of the three shrines of Nakamura Shrine, Ota Shrine, and Odaka Shrine. Soma-Nomaoi was nationally designated as an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property in 1978.  

I’ve never travel with groups of Americans here because so many of them are on American-style behavior and it’s embarassing, but this is a photography opportunity that was hard to pass up.  The other problem is the logistics of the trip – the bus leaves at 3am!!! and returns at 11pm that night. Which will be painful, but at least I’m not driving.

I haven’t been too busy, just haven’t had anything nice to say lately so I figured I’d better not immortalize my negativity in cyberspace. When Gene’s free and clear of the Navy I’m not going to hold back.

I went to the second installment of kimono class yesterday and am one step closer to being able to dress myself in Japan’s traditional costume. Everyone freaks out over a gaijin in a kimono, but I think you really need to be Japanese to do justice to it. Somehow it just looks better with shiny black hair and a diminutive physique. Not the straw that sits atop my noggin which sits atop a busty Anglican body. 

As I’m learning to wear this complex thing I always wonder how on earth such a stylized garment came into being. I got a book and am now reading a little bit about the evolution of the kimono. But it’s getting close to bedtime here so I think I’ll write about that tomorrow. Here are a couple of photos for now. Keep in mind that we had guests over for dinner the night before so I was slightly hungover (which is what accounts for the pallor) and there was no air conditioning in the room (which is what accounts for the hair/straw pasted to my head).

 I went on my usual weekend insect outing here on the base today. It was a good day for beetles as you can see from the photos.

The first thing I found was a ghoulish scene; a large sinister Reduviid bug sucking the life out of a small beetle. Kind of an apt metaphor for this base and me.

I’ve got a good story brewing. On Wednesday I will attend the first of 4 weekly kimono-dressing classes. I bought a kimono a couple of months ago and it turns out I got quite a bargain. I paid around $100 for it. The woman I bought it from runs a secondhand clothing shop, but this kimono had never been worn. The sleeves were too long for most Japanese people, but they fit my long gaijin arms perfectly. Some of the undergarments needed altering, so I gave the kimono and all its accoutrements to my friend Atsuko for some tailoring. She’s somewhat of a kimono expert and upon inspecting the garment, found that it had had its flowers handpainted and that it was custom-made in Ginza in Tokyo. In other words, someone most likely paid several thousand dollars for it at one time. I think that it was rendered  unsaleable by its long sleeves and the woman at the clothing shop had a hard time getting rid of it.

You just don’t throw on a kimono. The last time I wore one it took 2 and 3 people almost an hour to dress me so I have no idea how I’m going to handle this when I get back to the States…if I ever end up wearing it. But, if I don’t at least I’ll know how and I don’t know too many people – including Japanese! – who can properly truss someone up in a kimono. You just never know when that kind of knowledge might come in handy.

I’m kind of coming unglued. I’ve had yet more run-ins with the security people on this base and it’s really bumming me out. Well, not really bumming me out…just making me really toxic and cantankerous. Gene maintains that it is partially my fault and that I bring it on myself. Which is not entirely untrue as much as I am loathe to admit it. I told him today that some people just aren’t meant to be caged and, unfortunately, I’m one of them. I’m thinking about moving off-base into a cardboard box out on Monkey Island.

English-speakers, there is nothing wrong with you computer. This is in Japanese. 

ごめんなさい、　私は　長い時間　日本語を書きませんでした！　このごろ　　非常に忙しかったです。

二週前に　私のアメリカの友達は　日本に　来ました。　友達は　日本で　素晴らしい　時を過ごして、　日本人が　とても　優しいと思いました。私たちは　日光と箱根と東京とたくさん面白い所に　行きました。週の末に私は疲れました。　でも　素晴らしい　時間を過ごしました。

先土曜日に　Geneと私は　東京に行って、　ニュウ　サンオ　ホテル　に滞在しました。ニュウ　サンオ　ホテルは　アメリカの軍用のホテルです。　

たくさん　ともだちは　私の相撲の写真を誉めました。賛辞をありがとう　ございます。私は日本の文化の経験を感謝します。

今日　写真を撮るために　しょうぶ園に　行きました。

We’re having some unusual weather – low humidity, blue sky and puffy white clouds. Rainy season is just about here, so I guess we’d better enjoy the low humidity while we can.

Here are some miscellaneous photos. More from sumo and some insect photos I took last week. The guy with the lump on his head was one of the sumo judges. I was told that when he was a young aspiring sumo wrestler he did not meet the height requirement and somehow produced that lump on his head to add height. The guy who told me this wasn’t laughing when he said it so I don’t think he was kidding, but it seems almost unfathomable that someone would go to such ridiculous lengths…but then again, look at all the breast implants in the US and I guess it’s not such a stretch after all. I really wonder how he did it.

Gene and I are going to Tokyo this weekend to do some sightseeing and eating. Not a whole lot going on otherwise. It’s pouring down rain right now and if it continues tomorrow it will put a serious damper on our fun.

I took the preliminary paperwork to a crabby guy at the shipping office yesterday to have our household items shipped back to the states. So now we have to go to a “PCS counseling meeting” on June 4th. What that involves, I have no idea, but it will likely be painful.

More sumo photos:

May 23, Rikishi quotes

Asashoryu to the throng of reporters surrounding him in the dressing room:

“Don’t get too close to me!”

Asashoryu on his first loss:

 ”My tachi-ai sucked. I looked past him too much, but that’s sumo for you…a trapdoor where you least expect it. I failed at the tachi-ai, I failed myself, it was all a failure. But hey, I’ll have fun chasing him down.”

I mentioned last post that I was going to sumo again. I went. Holy crap. Last night definitely ranks as one of the top experiences I’ve had here. It was an incredible cultural experience and just exciting as hell. Some people look upon this as an undesirable character trait, but I will freely admit with no reservations that I really like a good fight. No doubt the reason I enjoyed last night so much.

Frankly, I don’t understand any of it – the rules, ranking, nothing. But after last night I do now know that there is a lot more involved that what one sees on TV. Most of the matches lasted only a few seconds, a few of them maybe 20 or 30 seconds at the most. But what was so amazing was how every single move counts. Nothing can be wasted or it will all be over in a blink of an eye. Those familiar with Japanese culture can probably see some parallels here with regard to the fleetingness of so many other facets of art and life.  The Nihon Sumo Kyokai Official Grand Sumo Home Page is a fantastic resource for anyone wishing to learn more about sumo. They have full explanations of the history, ranking procedures, fight techniques, terminology and even sumo exercises that you can go at home – which really aren’t too far removed from Yoga.

I was also amazed by their incredible power. Those buttcheeks and legs might look fat, but they’re all muscle. And the sound produced by two enormous wrestlers slamming into each other is enough to make one cringe. You don’t get the sound effects on TV which really adds to the ambience.

There are 15 days in each tournament and several tournaments a year. Last night was the 10th day of the May tournament. I’m not sure how opponents are matched, but there are rankings and you can determine what rank a fighter is by his hairstyle and mawashi (loincoth). There is a top fighter, only one at a time, called the Yokozuna. The reigning Yokozuna is this guy:

a Mongolian who has taken the Japanese name Asashoryu. His real name is Dolgorsuren Dagvadorj.  If you’re wondering why it seems as if he’s looking right at me, it’s because he was. A new friend of mine, Hiromi-san were the lucky guests of a mutual friend and were honored with the best seat in the house. All the action played out right in front of our box seat as we ate yakitori and frozen mikan sherbet. Hiromi told me that the particular seat we were occupying is always reserved for the Prime Minister on the last night of the tournament.

Asashoyru fought last, the biggest and most important night of the fight. He lost to his opponent and immediately following his downfall, the audience went wild (as wild as a crowd of Nihonjin are going to get) and starting throwing their zabutons (pillows) into the ring. Hiromi and I were being pelted with zabuton from behind and ended up with half a dozen or so in our box.

I repeatedly read how “secretive” Japanese people are and how it’s so tough to “penetrate” their society. The people making these claims must have been to this country in another space and time because I have found the exact opposite to be true. Take this “luck” of mine in getting this incredible opportunity last night. I repeatedly have opportunities like that and it’s not because I’m lucky. It’s because I take the time to express genuine and serious interest in Japanese people and culture and when people find out that you give a damn about their lives and culture, they are very willing to share. And I just don’t mean in the sense of getting to do cool things like go to fights and dress up in a kimono, but on a much more personal level too. I am a firm believer in the fact that the more you give, the more you receive.  Someone was in a position to show an interested foreigner one of the most important traditions in one of the most unique cultures in the world and I happened to be the “lucky” recipient. Enthusiasm and an adventurous spirit can get you a long way!