Rice Planting Festival
I woke up on Sunday at around 6. I didn’t really want to, but sleeping just didn’t seem like an option anymore. I was sleeping on a sand covered futon and my son seemed to be having a dream about soccer, and he seemed to be mistaking my groin for a soccer ball. I had gone to bed around one, or so, after a long night of relaxing at the campsite. We went camping with a group of around 25 people, four of whom were less than a meter tall. It was a beautiful night, in that it was nice and cool. It was rather overcast, so at least we were distracted by the moon and stars.
So, anyway, I got up early. That was part by design, although the overwhelming need for hydration was a driving factor. We planed to get up early, as my son had to be back to our village by 9 am for the Onsen Matsuri. He is in the local hoikuen (daycare) and all of those kids were going to be performing in the rice planting festival. The plan was that they would be beating out the rhythm on the drums while the Oba-chans and Oji-chans planted the rice. Unfortunately, it was raining when we got there so the kids didn’t get to participate. That was too bad, as I was really looking forward to seeing all the kids dressed up and playing the drums. I was particularly interested in seeing what kind of a rhythm they would be able to produce.
Even though the kids did not get to play along, the festival was still quite interesting. I had my video camera along with me, so in between shooting video I snapped a couple of photos with that. I have yet to put together the video clips into anything viewable, but I hope to find the time sometime soon.
The guy in this picture struck me as rather strange. Although I have seen people wear similar masks on many occasions, I was unsure as to why he was wearing this mask in this situation. Generally they are worn during a performance, or something of the like. As he was kinda working, I was a bit confused as to the function of the mask. So I asked my friend Kawada-san, the local cameraman, while we stood side-by-side snapping shots of him. Apparently, they wear these masks because the task of planting rice is so “kitsui” (difficult or harsh?) that the masks help to lighten the mood. That seemed to make sense to me. Along with that, there were drummers to keep a beat which helped to maintain the momentum of the planting. This I fully understood, as having planted rice by hand more than a few times, I understand the monotony of the job. The silence just reminds you of how much you have left to do. Or at least that was my impression. This other guy in the mask actually had a job. The first guy literally seemed like a court jester. He just paraded around the tanbo (rice paddy) smacking some bamboo sticks together. It was never clear to me whether he did this to keep with the drummers, or if it was a mocking threat of punishment for slackers. I seriously doubt the latter, but his bamboo sticks were of the same design of those used my Zen monks to smack slacking students. Anyway….
This second guy with the half mask had a less-than-fun job to do. His job was to hold the rope in the mud so that the Oba-chans could plant the rice in straight rows. This involved him spending the whole time bent over at 90 degrees with one hand in the mud. Perhaps not as “kitsui” as the ladies planting the rice had it, but I am sure his back was hurting at the end of the day. Luckily, as it was an Onsen Matsuri, all the public baths were free for the day, so all the workers got their rewards in the end.