Arirang Festival

While it isn't my personal favorite, Tsushima's biggest and most famous festival is probably the Arirang Festival in Izuhara. It's always on the first Sunday in August and celebrates friendly relations between Tsushima and Korea. Thousands of people come to it, including many Korean tourists (and many Korean performers, too). I was finally able to go to the whole festival last August.

The day kicks off early with traditional Tsushima boat races. It's not really rowing, although I've never done crew so I couldn't tell you the technical differences. The 'oars', they use, though, are basically thin sticks of wood. There isn't a scoop-like shape on the end; the boat only moves forward in a straight line if everyone is pulling on their 'oars' at the same time with the same amount of force. That's why there's usually a crazily-dressed mascot in the front of the ship yelling in beats and sometimes waving festive sticks. (I think crew has something like this but is a little more toned-down... these boat races are a rare chance for Japanese men to step outside of gender barriers acceptably, as the man below does by dressing as a young elementary-school girl, complete with her standard tough red leather backpack).

The Arirang Festival's main event is a parade meant to recreate the festivities of an epic meeting between Korean dignitaries and the ruling Tsushima So clan, way back when. The Korean dignitaries were on their way to the mainland for trading purposes (according to them) or to pay tribute to the Emperor (according to the Japanese peeps). In any event, it was a long haul from Korea in those pre-jetfoil years, so after their arrival in Tsushima there were many days of rest, feasting, and entertainment. Here are some pictures of the parade:

The mini-Tsushima horses make their appearance, of course!

There were a couple of musical groups in the parade, including one with interesting Korean instruments.

These Korean ladies are smiling and look happy, but watch out...

...they do a sword dance!

This is the man playing the chief Korean dignitary.

Doesn't he look dignified?

I loved the conches. Yes, they really played them!

There was a whole train of ladies in traditional Korean dress. With fans!

...and adorable little girls mixed in, too.

The colorful dresses made me think of flowers on parade.

I think this guy's trying to blend in with the local scenery.

More swords! ^^

...and more fans :)

The parade ends at the main stage near the harbor, at which point there are speeches in Japanese and Korean between the Tsushima So clan leader and the head Korean dignitary, basically exchanging greetings and hoping for a good future relationship. For history buffs or international relation peeps who understand Japanese (or Korean), this is probably exciting. But when it's the height of summer, there's no shade anywhere, and the speeches (with translation) seem to drag on forever... well, it's a comparatively slow part of the festival. An excellent time, I thought, to go hit up the okonomiyaki or shaved ice stalls.

Thankfully, the festival picks up again after the speeches with taiko (a southern Tsushima group, sadly, not mine... althought hat group is comprised of about 15 young men performing sans shirts, their chests glistening with sweat after the first set, so the crowd of obaachans and mothers with little kids probably enjoyed them more than they would've my colorfully-but-conservatively-dressed taiko group).

Then there's performer after performer until well into the evening, mostly Korean performers doing traditional dances with percussionists tucked into a corner of the stage. The dances were all different and beautiful. I loved seeing the joy radiating from each face, but it was very difficult to get a good picture because the dancers were always twirling or dashing around in patterns. It was quite different from Japanese traditional dance, which in Tsushima is mostly done by obaachans in movement-restricting kimono and focuses more on slow, elegant movements than the energetic bounding of these young Korean ladies.

Here are some of the Korean dancers:

There was one dance between a man and a woman that told the story of their romance.

Oh, and sometimes the dancers not only danced, they played Korean drums while dancing!

My favorite dance was a solo sword-dance. This woman was seriously spinning all over the stage.

And looking very dashing while doing it.

With so much continual movement, I thought it was easier to take a picture of the sword dancer's shadow than the dancer herself.

...how fantastic is that? I'd be happy if my shadow was half as cool.

The Arirang Festival ends with a grand display of fireworks. For a small island, it was quite impressive. I won't be able to go to the festival this year (my work contact and visa both end before then), so I'm glad I was able to see so much last year!