|
 |
DRAGONS,FLAMES,and
CHOCOLATE BALLS.
by Jason Bickley |
While thunder boomed, and sharp cracks of lightning
reverberated all around, the crowd looked up to the
third storey of the school buildings. Two dragons,
at least 10 metres long, emerged from the darkened
classroom windows, paused to look outside, and smoothly
soared through the black air above the opened mouthed
throng below. They landed softly on the soil of the
school grounds, sprouted a hundred legs between them,
and began roaming amongst the yukata clad
visitors. Children scrambled for cover, and toddlers
screamed against their parent's shoulders for fear
of being swallowed whole by the spectacular beasts.
The dragons made their way up to the right of the
stage, where they breathed flames from their jagged
jaws, to light a monstrous bonfire. As sparks danced
up into the sky, the two dragons finally retired for
the night, and the thunder faded into the still summer
air.
This was the highlight of the 18th "Orochi
no Hi Matsuri", which translates to something
along the lines of "Dragon's Fire Festival",
that was held in Yokota, a town of 8000, an hour and
a half's drive from Matsue City. It is held on the
2nd Saturday of August every year.
The "Orochi no Hi Matsuri" was
started in 1985, making it a relatively 'young'
festival. The concept was drawn from Yokota's history
of "Legends and Tatara (an ancient way of producing
steel)". The festivals purposes were 1) to
bind the strengths of the youth, 2) to foster interaction
between various generations, 3) to give children
dreams and 4) to be a festival where every visitor
has a sense of participation. Spectacles of the
night has evolved to include: "The Dragon Race"
(where six participants group together in a line,
with their ankles tied together, and race around
the block against another 'dragon' team), "The
Dragon's Fire Festival Dance", "The Dance
of the Dragon" (as detailed above with the
flying dragons) and finally "Dragon Taiko
Drumming". These make up the "core"
of the festival, and today, stage performances,
brass band parades and food stalls etc are added
to that.
 |
This year, one more special event was added to
the already bustling festival: an international
food fair. At the head of the planning committee
was Miss Siriphan Choosaksaengthong, a CIR from
Thailand. Siriphan is from Nonthaburi Province,
near Bangkok and is a graduate of the faculty for
Liberal Arts, majoring in Japanese, from the prestigious
Thammasat University. This year is her second year
as a CIR in the Yokota Town Office's Planning Division.
Her latest project was to tie an international
food event with the Dragon's Fire Festival, while
also coordinating the movements of a Thai Delegate
Group from Roi Et Province. The delegates included
various local government representatives of Roi
Et, as well as schoolboys and girls. Many of the
students were scholars of a Thai Technical College,
which specialises in traditional dance and instruments.
Most of them also study abacuses and participated
in an Abacus Competition, pitting their calculating
skills against those of Japanese children.
As for the international food, there was a French
CIR making crepes, a Chinese CIR making jiaozi,
an Indian exchange student making curry, and a New
Zealand CIR making coconut-coated chocolate balls.
The delicacies were laid out in stalls around the
event grounds and sold well, but did not break even.
This did not trouble the organising committee however
as the goal was to have the visitors sample the
foods, not to make a profit.
During the course of the night, a wonderful display
of song and dance from around the world could be
seen on the stage: from rhythmic Japanese folk dancing,
to graceful Thai traditional dance, to nervous twitchy
Balinese dancing. The air also stirred to exotic
sounds of Thai musical instruments and shuddered
to the pounding of Japanese taiko drums.
Siriphan's closing words were: "I really love
Yokota, there is so much to do! You can go camping,
mountain climbing and skiing. We also have hot springs
that have beautifying effects on your skin! One
train. Kisuki line. ￥310. What are you waiting for!?"
|
