Okinawa is home to the world’s largest Tug of War festival, which dates back some 600 years. We have been several times, and decided to share some photos from the event. There are smaller festivals throughout the year in the various villages on the island to determine who the best and strongest are to participate in the final festival. Onlookers can join the ranks of the teams to lend assistance to either the East Side or West Side. All in all, it is a wonderful festival and a tremendous amount of fun!
These flags mark the different regions of the island teams come from. They all line up as there is representation from across all of Okinawa.
The actual tug of war is more or less that – so, I tried to capture candids and other shots of folks in the crowd. I really like the one of this guy up on the rope. These guys would swing their arms and blow whistles in cadence to keep the contestants in sync.
Erika is wearing a jinbei, which is a traditional summer time outfit (for men) to wear at a festival, or matsuri. Generally these days you see them on kids or maybe high schoolers, as adults tend to wear the slightly fancier yukata, which is a thin summertime kimono. That said, they come in a variety of patterns and are very fun, so we like to wear them!
There were guys doing karate demonstrations as well. Very cool!
Lots of parents hoisting kids up on the shoulders to get a better view. The ball you can see was suspended above the crowd but opened up to reveal a banner making the year of the current festival and a whole bunch of confetti!
A lot of fun! After the festival since we were downtown in Naha (which is the main city of Okinawa), we went to dinner and walked around just enjoying the city. Another year, another great festival!
Thanks for reading!