After visiting the Shuri Castle, we headed downtown for the 48th Annual Naha Tug of War Festival. At one time, they held the Guinness Book of World Records for largest rope. That has since been topped and there are other tug of war festivals in the area too. I am so glad we didn't go there right after church and bake in the sun, waiting for this to start. We arrived about 30 minutes before the actual ceremony started, found us a piece of rope to hold on to and joined in the madness.
The "eyes" of the rope met in the middle - east and west - where each side moved their rope closer and closer to each other, so that the "eyes" could meet up. You can see just under the ball, the "eye" of our side.
Each side would begin blowing their whistles, yelling "Hi yah!" telling us when to pull.
This is a good photo showing you the large rope in the middle of the street. There were then leads off the it where everyone was pulling.
As each side pulled closer and closer to the meeting point, the men would try to maneuver the eyes with giant wooden sticks so that they could then put a wooden pin in the middle of them, anchoring them together so the tug of war could begin.
You can see here how the "eye" is now almost standing up and the large sticks on the left side moving it into place.
They told a little about the ceremony and then the giant ball opened up. We had no idea there was something in it. We just thought it was signifying the center of the east and west.
Each side had their king ride in in a procession, meet in the middle and then ride back out.
It was now time to start pulling.
(I have great videos if you would like to see them!)
Amelia and I opted to stand back and take pictures while Caleb and Dad tugged. Caleb mostly got smashed!
They will only allow the tugging to go on for 30 minutes or until one of the sides pulls the eye 50 meters. After only 11 minutes our side lost. But it was great fun and another great experience for us here in Okinawa!
After the festival, everyone is invited to cut a piece (or pieces) of the rope off to take home. We got a few small pieces and a couple of large ones.
Shawn borrowed a knife (because we're not supposed to have them here) to cut us some large pieces.
We're so glad we were able to take part in one of their famous festivals!
