Naha Festival Tug-of-War Opening Ceremony

Following the parade and a bite of lunch at McDonald's, it was time to follow the crowd to the location of the  giant tug-of-war!!!
 

Rodney kinda sticks out in the crowd here... ;0)

There is the giant gold ball....when it opens, the tugging begins!!

 

Our first glimpse of the rope...

Tucked into the crowd with 275,000 of our closest friends!!!

 

The flags and poles from the parade are making their way to the center for the Opening Ceremony...

Once they are all in place (according to Rodney who could see over the crowd a bit easier than me!), there is basically a 'karate-off'... It seems each prefecture has a representative and they perform their arts.... 

Finally, when that is done, they connect the two sections of rope....

 

Once the rope is connected, the king from the East enters...

....and the king from the West....

...and the rope pullers are ready to pull....

...aaaannndddddd they pull!!!!

And the 42nd Annual Naha Tug-of-War is underway!!!!

We were really looking forward to seeing the tug again this year, but after a 2 1/2 hour parade, then standing in that crowd for the HOUR LONG opening ceremony, once the ball opened, we HAD to get outta dodge!!!
But, it was still a great day :)
{And, yes, there will be videos up next!!}

Naha Festival Parade videos

So you can experience a few of the sights and sounds in motion for yourselves..... Enjoy!!

Naha Festival Parade

We parked at the airport and rode the monorail with our Bailey friends to Kokusai Street to watch the big parade before the tug-of-war.

We went to the tug last year, but were unaware of the pre-tug parade, so we've been planning for the last year to go down earlier in the day and see the parade!!
(If you look at the January 2012 "Past Wanderings", you'll find last year's pictures and videos!!)

It seems there are 14 areas (counties/prefectures) of Okinawa represented, each having flag groups, drum groups, etc. walking and performing in the parade.

 

 

I'm not sure if these are real shells (modified with a mouth piece) or not, but I'm sure are representative of a time when real shells would have used.

I think this is probably the same 'blessings' character, "Miruku," we saw at Ryukyu Mura (August 2012 posts).

This guy was helping his flag pole team with their very loud chanting!!

I just love the look on his face!!
(You can see the mouthpiece on the shell.)

Yep, barefoot.....

 

 

 

This poor little guy seemed to be walking with mom and big brother's group.....and he was DONE!!

This little group of guys and girls did a wonderful martial arts performance! 

Each prefecture's parade section was led by one of these poles, but I have no idea what they are actually called!

They used the forked sticks to help stand it up....

....and help balance it, while one guy bounces it up and down! All while they're chanting along!!
Most teams did a great job keep the pole up-right while in motion.... But, there was one who's pole went almost to the ground a number of times... poor guy!

 

Looking up Kokusai Street at the end of the parade!!
Just "a few" people in attendance!!

This is one of those experiences that simply can not truly be understood or fathomed in still shots alone, so up next will be a few videos :)

Gala ~ Sea Seed

Following the salt making experience, we purchased our tickets and walked down to the water to check out
Sea Seed....

Sea Seed is a coral farming company....

....growing coral starts to replace damaged and destroyed corals around Okinawa.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I believe Sea Seed to be a very worthwhile endeavor and glad we were able to contribute to their cause.

I thought this was a very interesting looking pavilion next to Sea Seed, but I'm not exactly sure what it's used for....

I'm also not sure what this structure is, but we were excited to learn we could go out to it!

 

From the structure looking back at Sea Seed and the Salt Factory condensation towers up on the hill.

It was a GORgeous day!!!!