...and I get sick so I can't go out to enjoy them.
I so wanted to go to see this event today. The O-mato Taikai, archery
contest held at Sanjusangen-do temple. It has roots that go over 400
years into history. These days it's only for young adults (20 years of
age) though, and not quite as extreme as it used to be. What it used to be like (copy-pasted from
japan-talk.com):
The Hyakui
Most target hits with 100 arrows. The Seni
Most target hits with 1000 arrows. The 11 year old boy who won the 1827 competition hit the target 995 times. The Hiyakazu
The number of target hits in 12 hours. The 1774 winner shot 11,715 times.
That's an average of 16 arrows a minute for 12 hours with no break. The Oyakazu
The number of target hits in 24 hours. The 1686 winner hit the target with 8,133 of 13,053 arrows he shot.
Nowadays there's two arrows/archer per one round. Those who hit the target with both go to the next round, and that's it. Video from last year:
As I said, I'd planned to go to watch, but got a bit sick. No fever or anything, but sore throat that feels a bit worrying, not just the throat that is, but a bit in the chest too... so I figured it's better stay home. Otherwise I might have still gone, but we're going to have all our exams and deadlines within the next two weeks, so I don't want to get sick right now. :/
Last year it apparently snowed around this time. So this year too, yesterday night! Snow! Of course, it's mostly gone now, and tomorrow's weather forecast is 11° C, so...
But I had time to make this!
View from my balcony this morning:
Coming to Kyoto, I was in fact thinking about joining the kyūdō (Japanese archery) club at the university. In the end didn't join any clubs... but I think I simply must do something kyūdō-related before going back to Finland. We'll see. I'll keep you posted. ^^
New year in Japan. I was going to say that just as with Christmas, this was my first New Year away from home, but nope, there was that one time I spent it far away in the exotic Sweden. (Does Swden even count as a foreign country? ^^)
Anyway, this was a wonderful new year, spent in Kobe with few friends. I guess I haven't mentioned my new salsa hobby here before? Marina (who yesterday left back to Brazil... ;_; ) took me to those classes first a couple of months ago. I've tried to go at least once a week, but it varies a bit. I'm not particularly good, but it's an awful lot of fun, and also gives some language practice. Anyway, there was a Countdown Latin party at Kobe, arrange by one of our teachers, and there we went.
Spent a while first walking around in Kobe. Walked through the Chinatown to the port... but first things first. These cheese tarts.
Oh god. They are so delicious I'm glad I don't live in Kobe. I would eat nothing else. Note to self: bought them at the Santica shopping center, bottom floor, where they also sold the best onigiri I've so far tasted. (And very many other tasty-looking things.)
So, onward. First the Chinatown. A small place, but with very many tempting things that I mainly managed to resist.
Also resisted these stairs (not in Chinatown anymore) though they were calling me..
It was a supermoon night.
Advertising pic for Kiss FM? xD
We almost went to skate, but didn't really have enough time...
You should have steak in Kobe, right? Though I admit this wasn't Kobe steak. Very good, nevertheless.
And one more view of the Kobe Tower and the moon.
Then we headed to the party. Got to dance quite a lot, a bit salsa and bachata, but also just, you know, to move to the music. A lot easier than pair dances, if you ask me. ^^;
There was also a samba show. (A poor quality video, I know. Sorry.)
One interesting experience of the trip was sleeping at an internet cafe. It was better than I thought, but few observations:
1) not good for tall people. I (at 170cm) was ok, but if you are at all taller than me, you'd find it cramped. Even I was sleeping kind of diagonally.
2) the pillow is meant for sitting, not sleeping.
3) a light sleeper (like me) will wake up many, many times, because everybody gets up at different times, and so there are alarms going off every half an hour. Yes, I had earplugs. Luckily I'm quite good in falling asleep again.
But overall I liked it. It wasn't as cheap as one would have imagined - maybe the new year made the price higher? But it was a 3 min walk from our party place, which was quite nice. Also, all drinks are free in these places. ^^ (And there's manga to read - in Japanese of course - and naturally the computers, but we were there to sleep.)
You can get your feet underneath the table, so it's not quite as small as it might seem in that pic..
Next day we still stopped at the Ikuta shrine. Had a bit trouble finding each other thought, as two of us stayed in the internet cafe and two elsewhere.
I got myself a prediction. Haven't (still) yet quite deciphered all of it, but at least it's not an unlucky one. "Future good luck"? Well, fine enough. Studies is 困難, though. Difficulty, hardship. (I think it's about this January. It will be horrible. Let's see if I survive. There is that future good luck, though, I'm counting on it.....)
So, that's it for New Year. If I had made this update right away a week ago, as I planned, this would end here, but I'll just move onto the next thing now, I guess. The Noh theater I saw last year reminded me that I want to see kabuki too, and as we had one week's vacation for new year, I went and bought a kabuki ticket for Jan 3. For Shochikusa theater in Osaka. There is a kabuki theater in Kyoto too, of course, but they have only two runs of three weeks per year, and none in the time I've left here. Shochikusa is a bit better in that sense, with three to five runs per year, each lasting between three to four weeks.
So I headed to Osaka. I walked to the theather from the Yodoyabashi station, stopping at some shrines on the way. But again, to begin with essential things (food), I went to eat in a place called Chibo. This was first time I had okonomiyaki, and it was delicious.
The first shrine on my way was Goryo. It was also my favorite. Quite small, and not overly popular. But somehow very... I don't know. Charming place, for some reason?
Nanba shrine had fun dog pictures. (Once Chinese New Year comes, the year of the dog will start.)
And Nambayasaka shrine was clearly the most popular place - and but on the third place on my list, sorry. The "awe-inspiring Ema-den" was, uh, mainly a bit funny, if you ask me...
Other than the shrines, Osaka feels like a much more modern city than Kyoto.
Stopped to take a random photo (the one above) and then realized I'm there. The theater is the building on the right side on the photo below.
The streets were getting crowded in the evening, after the theater.
Alright. Finally trying to get to the point. Kabuki.
I went there to see "Kabuki dances by Tamasaburo" - not a single kabuki play, in other words, but four separate little acts.
Loved it, simply put. Bandō Tamasaburō V is the most popular onnagata at the moment, and I can see why. It's amazing to think that the beautiful, graceful lady on the stage would be a 67-year-old man. My favorite of the dances was Sagi Musume (the heron maiden). You can watch the whole thing on youtube - with English commentary so you actually get a clue what's going on. It's altogether ~30 minutes long. If you don't feel like watching it all, at least watch the end of the first part to see the dress change. It was quite dramatic in real life.
Beginning:
Middle:
End:
And I think that finally concludes this update....
