« Urawa Reds v Nagoya Grampus | Main | Another beach stroll »
November 26, 2007
Zushi Beach Yabusame (逗子海岸流鏑馬)
Well, it has been a month, so I thought it would be nice to update the blog again. I have been kind of busy, but always when I get home it does not seem to be entertaining enough to write about. Well, last week's horseback archery on Zushi Beach being an exception. In that case, I was just lazy. But...I am over that now, so here are some pictures and a brief chat about it.
Every year, there is a demonstration of horseback archery (Yabusame - 流鏑馬）on Zushi Beach. Apparently, this happened for the first time on September 2, 1199. No, that is not a typo...800+ years ago. The martial art was first promoted by Minamoto Yoritomo who ruled a newly united Japan from nearby Kamakura. Cool, right?
I did not get to see very much, mostly because the wind was extremely strong and I kept getting sand in my eyes. I always like being on the beach, but this was less than ideal. The demonstration was supposed to last a few hours, but it ended early. I think everyone was ready to go home.
Afterwards, some of the students came down and we went back to the Zushi pad for a few drinks. It was great fun.
Oh, here is a picture from the festival in town before the archery. The main shopping street was closed for the morning and there were all sorts of food stands and the like. There was also this ceremony, but I was not close enough to really see or hear what was going on.
