January 14, 2008

  • Tamaseseri

    Every January 3rd a festival  called "Tamaseseri" is held at Hakozaki Shrine in Hakata.  There are two teams, a land team and a sea team who compete for possession of a couple of 25 pound wooden balls.  If the sea team wins there will be good fishing that year, and if the land team wins there will be a bountiful harvest.  I think that just being able to touch the ball brings general good luck.  Way back when the competitors used to be clothed, but at some point it was decided that the extra apparel was an impediment with which to be done away.  (So this is not nudity, it is just fellows in their traditional Japanese skivvies.)

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    The two wooden balls are washed and blessed before the start of the game.

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    The road to the shrine extends back the the nearby beach, and these fellows await their turn.

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    They all look kinda cold to me, but they are going to get colder!

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    Here comes the ball!  Why does that fellow in the right have a plastic bag over his camera?  Because there are large tanks of "chikara mizu" water that will be thrown at the players.  Hey, how does one tell who is on what team??  They all look the same to me!

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    Care seems to be taken that the ball is not dropped and that no one topples over and gets hurt.

     

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    Bystanders, you have been forewarned, so don't complain if your get wet!  My camera has a plastic bag over it, too, so Mr. Compukermann does not have to worry.

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    The game continues.

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    Oops, a couple of drips on my camera lens.  I really don't know who won, land or sea.

    Here is some moving action.  I kept the camera rolling until I got bumped.  There are probably better videos of this festival on Youtube.  Use Tamaseseri as your search word.

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