秋祭りの子供相撲も Kids Sumo, too, at the Fall Festival

September 28, 2010: 温泉タウン戸倉上山田 Onsen Town Togura-Kamiyamada

Kenny's winning sumo move

上山田の波閉科(はべしな)神社の秋祭りはお相撲を大々的に開催している。千曲市の全ての神社の中で大人の相撲も子供の相撲もやっているのここだけだそうです。私も以前にお相撲に参加させて事があります。うちの子供達は毎年にすごく楽しみにしています。

今年の子供相撲のLynch家の結果はどうだったでしょうか?少し練習したお蔭か、三人とも勝ちました。二男は特にいい勝負でした。買ったら、「ケン君、良く出来た!練習して良かった!」と言ったら、周りが「練習したの?」と不思議な顔していました。「あたりまえ。だって、去年はあいつが女の子に負けちゃった」と説明しました。

子供達にきっといい思い出になったでしょう。子育てには上山田はやはりいいよね。

Besides the okagura lion dance which I wrote about yesterday, Habeshina Shrine's fall festival also features a fairly elaborate sumo wrestling tournament. It's the only shrine in the whole city that has both adult and kids sumo. I myself have done the full fundoshi and participated in years past. Our kids look forward to the tournament every year.

So, how did Andy, Kenny and Misaki do? All three of them won individual bouts! Perhaps it was because we practiced a bit ahead of time. We were especially proud of Kenny, who put up a very good fight. After he won, I yelled, "Good job Kenny! The practicing came in handy!" Several of the people around were surprised -- "You guys practiced?!" "Well, of course. Last year he got beat by a girl!"

Anyways, this is one of the benefits of raising our kids out here in Japan's countryside -- they get to experience sumo.



Misaki-chan's sumo


Misaki's winning move


Habeshina's Sumo Ring


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *