Ikazaki Otakogasen Matsuri, Japan

[bakubo]

Last week we also went to the Ikazaki Otakogasen Matsuri next to the Odagawa River in another small town on Shikoku. For over 400 years they have an annual kite festival. They make kites of paper and bamboo and paint big kanji characters on them and fly them. The biggest kite was maybe about 20x15 meters! I have some photos here:

http://www.bakubo.com/Galleries%202/Japan/index.html

[Greg Beetham]

The kite photos were good Henry, kites with a difference, especially the one that was launched with a crane…briefly.
The handmade ships tow line (seriously big rope) was interesting too, and the amount of trouble they went to too suspend it in midair between two pinnacles of rock out in the ocean, very neatly done.
Greg

Ps someone said once all the weird stuff happens in Japan but I didn’t believe them, I have to admit though those were borderline weird.

[bakubo]

The kite photos were good Henry, kites with a difference, especially the one that was launched with a crane…briefly.

There are a couple of photos that show the kite on the ground while they were making it. They then had to raise it up off the ground with the crane so that when the big group of men holding the rope and started running they would not just drag it on the ground. It had to be raised up so that air could get under it. The wind was not all that great that day so the kite flying this year was a bit underwhelming.

The handmade ships tow line (seriously big rope) was interesting too, and the amount of trouble they went to too suspend it in midair between two pinnacles of rock out in the ocean, very neatly done.

I arrived where they were making the big rope about 10:00 AM and they had already started. They loaded it on the boat to take it to Kashima Island about 11:30. It probably took that huge group about 2.5 hours to make the rope. Then about 12:30 they loaded the rope back onto the boat to head out to the rocks and then it was finished by about 3:00 PM.

My understanding is this dates back to the year 1185 when it was done in prayer hoping for victory in a big battle. I guess it was done for a long time and then was revived in 1957 to pray for marine safety, bountiful crops, and large fish catches. You often see these big ropes strung at jinjas (Shinto shrines) and o-teras (Buddhist temples) also. I don't know the significance, but these ropes seem to have some sort of religious significance. Over the years I have seen them hundreds of times. Here are just a couple of examples in the last few weeks:

Ps someone said once all the weird stuff happens in Japan but I didn’t believe them, I have to admit though those were borderline weird.

It is only weird if you don't know what is going on are if it is your first time to see it. But, yes, Japan has lots of interesting and cool traditions. All around you see all the modern aspects of life, but then mixed with it is hundreds of years and sometimes thousand year old traditions that are still followed.

Since some of your comments refer to my other thread I will copy my replies to it too.