Here and There Japan

A. Donwerth-Chikamatsu

Horseback Archery at Meiji Jingu on Culture Day

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shadow-img_3483I went to Meiji Jingu to watch yabusame, horseback archery. I waited in a crowd under the trees. The archers slowly passed by on their way to the starting point. I was not able to get a photo of any of them coming from that way. They were too fast!

So, I put my camera away and just enjoyed the pound of hooves and the thwack of arrows and the streak of archers bolting past. People’s cameras and heads kept getting in my line of view, so I was left with sound effects most of the time.

Later I moved to a different area. This is not a good photo, but look at him! Poised to take aim.img_3576

I wandered off but then came back after the ending ceremony. I took this photo of one of the archers.archer-standing-img_3639

I wandered off again and was about to take a photo of some men clacking wooden poles in a kendo bout. They all stopped, dropped to their knees and bowed to the archers as they passed on horseback. So I turned to take photos from the crowd.

archer-close-up-img_3665This archer had an omamori on his scabbard. This article explains what they are.

archer-female-img_3656All of the archers had a dragonfly on the cuff of their sleeves and some of them had their family crests on their shoulders. I decided to follow the crowd behind the archers.

behind-horses-img_3670Two attendants followed behind to clean up after the horses.

Sorry for the poor quality of the photos. It was either too dark or too light. Moving in and out of light and dark made it hard to make adjustments. But you can probably google photos!

Check this link to see the other Culture Day activities on November 3 at Meiji Jingu (Shrine). Here is a link to 2016 events.

For more information about Culture Day see this Kids Web Japan article.

 

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