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FredM
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Hakata Gion Yamakasa Festival
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
Waking up at 4:30 in the morning to watch hundreds of men (and a few boys) run eight times around the city of Fukuoka wearing nothing but a short robe and what looked like a XXL diaper had never been my original plan. And since the festival begins at 4:59, my hosts urged me to hurry downtown to secure a vantage point that allowed me access to these honored individuals and their magnificently decorated floats.
Each ward creates an elaborate float and pulls it at breakneck speed around the city. Yelling and screaming follow the men as buckets of water are thrown upon them. I experienced the intense drenching myself as I simply stood in a shop’s doorway. Every resident possible heaved water at the men as each float and its participants hurtled past.
The morning’s activities glued me to my spot underneath a faded blue awning. The men shouted “Yamakasa” in a very strict and staccato cadence as they hauled the decorative floats. The parade through the streets always occurs on the last day of the festival, July 15. And, I later discovered, all the men wear traditional clothing called “mizu happi” or “shimekomi” consisting of a loincloth and truncated shirt.
As each float approached from down the street, I heard drumming and chanting. Men warned people to step back or move quickly because these parading behemoths cannot be stopped easily. I jumped quickly into the street, taking as many photographs as I could, before the hundreds of men and their entourage flattened me in the street.
By the eighth go round, some of the younger kids started crying. Grueling fun, I thought to myself as the last of the floats returned to the beginning of the race. I waited several minutes while everyone dispersed in search of breakfast.
This experience of Japanese culture and historical tradition settled in my memory as a truly unbelievable event. I couldn’t remember any other time in my life when getting up at 4:30 in the morning provided more pleasure and excitement. In fact, I’m pretty sure this was the only time.
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sonoflaw
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Fukuoka City
Fukuoka City, located on the northern tip of Japan’s southern island of Kyushu, was not what I expected it to be. Upon entering the city, I was surrounded by signs and advertisements English and almost everybody I met on the way to my hostel seemed to want to try their English out on me. Upon arriving at the hostel, it was explained to me that Kyushu has been trying for years to be Japan’s number one international city, and that in terms of language, they had already achieved that goal. Having been to Tokyo, I doubted that fact, but I did appreciate a break from speaking Japanese and translating it to my travel companions for weeks on end. Once I began wandering around Fukuoka, I noticed that it is something of a canal city, with a large river flowing down the center, and waterways separating off to different smaller streams. As I followed the river, I was able to explore every inch of the city, from the industrial western side to the temple-laden east side. As Fukuoka City presented a break from my backpacking through Honshu, I used the time there to explore the everyday culture instead. Like the rest of Japan, Fukuoka had a large farming and fishing community, though most people in the middle of the city worked in the large buildings in the business district. I noticed that Western chiq style was further ahead of its time in this town as well, the people there following western tradition a little bit closer. The funny thing is, as I explored the rest of Kyushu, I seemed to find people further away from the west than anywhere else in Japan. Fukuoka City will tell visitors that it is the exporter of the best ramen bowls in Japan, but it is also an oasis for those looking for a break from the total Japanese immersion that awaits them on the rest of the south western island.
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