Kagoshima
sponsors the Ohara Matsuri (festival) in early November, and it has been holding this festival for over 60 years. It is famous
nationally for the sheer numbers involved as well as for the colorful dancing. The long course runs through the main street on a wide
boulevard down one direction, then turning around and coming back to the start repeating the process for a few hours, over and over on the same street. Twenty thousand, yes, that is 20,000, dancers belonging to groups from all over Japan come to dance in kimono, hapi
coats or costumes. (Think Rose Bowl Parade in Pasadena California for comparison). The music for this festival is a very old folk song or two about old time activities when the rice planting was harvested or
the miners' day was done. Performers, over 20,000 dancers and some taiko drum
teams, parade down the wide picturesque boulevard which is planted with many
flowers, and keep
dancing from about 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.
The ALTs were invited to participate in a group for the event, along with any other interested gaijin (foreigners) in
the ken. Shawn, an ALT then based north of the city in the Kirishima Mountains,
was going to teach the ALT's the routine and lead them through the
parade. She had spent her first two years on Tanegashima, an island close to southern Kagoshima and
the location of Japan's space program.
Never one
to pass up a dance, I decided to join in. Nancy also wanted to join in, and we had Richard come along from a neighboring town,Chiran, where he taught in a private school. Shawn gave us a practice session, the
steps and arm movements imitated the volcano, growing plants and digging rice
fields, or something to that effect, and she performed them quite
gracefully. We did our best but we all took turns flailing the wrong arm
or turning the wrong direction at times. Eventually, we came
together most of the time, but never quite got near the grace we would see in
the other groups, who had, of course, practiced for years. But again, our
prowess was not going to be judged here. We simply had to show up and show that
we cared about their event, and that we were interested in this culture that was new
to us. For that small gift to them and a few hours of dancing tirelessly and not necessarily gracefully, we were loved.
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| Gungho Gaijin ready to hit the streets dancing! The group represented the U.S., Canada and England. |
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| This is how the dance begins..... |
Many
groups came from all over Japan to perform, and they wore beautiful kimono and
elaborate obi (waistbands) or wonderful hats, or some sort of coordinated
costumes, and the men usually wore hapi coats with their groups name across the
back. Our ALT group would also wear hapi coats in blue with dark
pants. The Japanese performers would wear tabi (socks with toes). Other than Shawn
who also wore the tabi, the rest of us ALT's would mostly wear our standards,
something by which I could always identify an ALT, tennis shoes with
shoestrings.
Japanese rightly wear slip-ons, or loafer type shoes as they step out of them gracefully whenever they enter their homes or someone else's home. The ALT's bend over, butt up, trying to get their shoes untied to remove them, and then take an extra couple of minutes, butt up, trying to get them back on. Yet we ALT's resisted the easier shoes, and stuck with those shoestrings.
Japanese rightly wear slip-ons, or loafer type shoes as they step out of them gracefully whenever they enter their homes or someone else's home. The ALT's bend over, butt up, trying to get their shoes untied to remove them, and then take an extra couple of minutes, butt up, trying to get them back on. Yet we ALT's resisted the easier shoes, and stuck with those shoestrings.
So, I
mentioned there would be 20,000 dancers, didn't I? Well, that's more than ten times as
many people in my hometown in the U.S. And if there were 20,000
dancers, there must have been 500,000 there to watch us. (I looked up
this festival and these are the true figures, no exaggeration.) It was a
big, big day for Kagoshima. ( Kagoshima City's population is over 600,000.)
The dancing groups were in rows of 6 or more abreast as we lined up that day and started dancing. We, about 10 or 12 of us, looked a little, well, foreign, in our hapi coats, some gangly guys, some women with a bit of color on our cheeks, some of us short or tall or blond or dark. Yes, definitely the foreigners. But we came to have fun and we did. I have no idea how many times we went around the long oval course of about 1 mile over those few hours. We went around many times, and sometimes out of the crowd someone would step forward with a tray of sake in little cups. I really wanted WATER. And I understand that now they offer water, but this was in the old days, 20 years ago. I simply had to endure.
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| Groups are lining up. The matsuri is about to begin. |
The dancing groups were in rows of 6 or more abreast as we lined up that day and started dancing. We, about 10 or 12 of us, looked a little, well, foreign, in our hapi coats, some gangly guys, some women with a bit of color on our cheeks, some of us short or tall or blond or dark. Yes, definitely the foreigners. But we came to have fun and we did. I have no idea how many times we went around the long oval course of about 1 mile over those few hours. We went around many times, and sometimes out of the crowd someone would step forward with a tray of sake in little cups. I really wanted WATER. And I understand that now they offer water, but this was in the old days, 20 years ago. I simply had to endure.
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| A colorful group gets lots of attention. |
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| I just love the hats! |
In
addition to the crowd and volunteers occasionally offering sake, one man jumped
out to take pictures, right in front of ME! He was smiling and saying
something, but I couldn't make out a single word. Between the music, noise
of the crowd, and just trying to follow Shawn's actions in front of me, I could
not have understood him if I did speak the language. We went around the course
again, and the same man jumped out at me again. It was almost funny, but
after the 3rd, 4th and 5th time I was getting somewhere between annoyed and
paranoid. Finally, he must have left, and I forgot all about him.
Until I
returned to my assigned day at Kaseda High School, and the man suddenly
appeared in front of me again in the teachers' room. So, after all that,
he was a teacher at my base high school. I sat at desks in a row with the English teachers, while he sat somewhere behind in other rows of desks for a total of about 35 to 40 teachers. I could see why I had not recognized him.
He had gone to the Ohara Matsuri, then was suddenly surprised to see his school's ALT dancing there. He must have been pretty shocked, but he happily preserved that day and handed me a packet of the photos he took. I am pretty sure he had shown them to all the teachers before I came to the school that week. Because as I looked around the teachers' room, all I saw were approving smiles. Now I understood why he had kept jumping out at me! What a nice surprise, and I have the pictures to remember that day even now.
He had gone to the Ohara Matsuri, then was suddenly surprised to see his school's ALT dancing there. He must have been pretty shocked, but he happily preserved that day and handed me a packet of the photos he took. I am pretty sure he had shown them to all the teachers before I came to the school that week. Because as I looked around the teachers' room, all I saw were approving smiles. Now I understood why he had kept jumping out at me! What a nice surprise, and I have the pictures to remember that day even now.
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| Only four more hours to go! |
I learned
a couple of important things during these early days. One is that what we
did was seen by others, and, like a small town, our actions were reported on
and shared. The impressions we made would stand us in good stead if we
acted responsibly and courteously to others. Also, although I didn't
understand the photographer, he turned out to be a very kind person. I
would find more and more goodness in my life in Japan like this, and I learned to apply that to the rest of my life. Simple
kindness, one on one, led me along my journey in Japan, and I discovered a belief
to live by. Kindness is the same in any culture. It doesn't require
translation.
You can find more of the Ohara Matsuri from various years at these websites.
wonderful youtube clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mz6sSpqaH_k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiV19xDSi2k
with Taiko drummers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNy6IgJaNjQ
Also, to all readers, please consider leaving me a comment. Do you like reading this? Have you read the other posts, or are you a first time reader? I would love to hear from you. Also, since there is a Google translator, please leave your comment in your native language, if you feel you can express yourself better that way. Thank you!
