Yabusame at Zushi Beach

More pictures from this entry can be seen in my Shutterfly album.

We had a busy weekend! Saturday was Shichigosan and Sunday was Yabusame in Zushi! Here's another great website explaining Yabusame in English. The art of Yabusame has been in existence since the 12th century, and the Japan Equestrian Archery Association's mission is "To maintain and promote the Japanese traditional horseback martial arts which have been maintained by Takedaryu, of which discipline originally established in the 12th century, Kamakura era."

Before the archery started there was a samurai parade near Zushi City Hall. A friend of mine was dressed in costume so we watched her and took some pictures then walked down to the beach. It started raining while we were walking through Zushi Ginza, but we had umbrellas and were fine. Once we got to the sand it was a different story. The wind and rain picked up. We stood under and underpass to stay dry for about an hour and the kids had so much fun running and playing. I had my friend's son with me too, so the girls had a playmate. While we were under there an American man came in with his Japanese wife. She explained a lot of things that would be happening and even was nice enough to let us stick with them. She knew a good place to stand, so sure enough we followed! They were both so nice and as it turns out he's retired Navy.

The pictures speak for themselves and the video below will too. But basically the horse runs at full speed and the rider shoots at three targets. The kids sitting down next to the target (we were at the first of three) replace them for each rider and when they come back up the beach they also give the riders the arrows.

After they were just about done I walked around the tents to see what everyone was standing in line for. It was pieces of wood branded with something on it, I'm assuming from the Yabusame. I took some pictures and one of the men invited me inside the tent. I got some more pictures and as I was walking away they gave me a piece. I offered to pay for it, but one man said, "Daijoubu desu" which means "it's okay," or "it's fine." How nice was that?!

It was a raining morning and early afternoon, but we got on the train, met some friends down on the sand and had a really good time! The first video is obvious, and the second is a small group of us trying to figure out how to get a bottle of ramune, or soda, open.

Beachin' It

We made our first trip to Zushi Beach today with Brenda and her daughter Brianna. Brenda's husband works with Bob, and we've really hit it off. She makes me a little less sad not having Shari, Dawn and Susan around...of course we can't chat sitting in my carport with mango iced tea, overlooking the Waianae Mountains, but eh, she'll do!!! Nah, I'm just kidding. We clicked, and I'm happy to say I've made a new friend. I know what you're thinking, "Awww, how sweet!" We actually met at the Navy Lodge, she was the first person I met. She and her family arrived a couple of months before us, and they also lived in the Lodge for about three months. So we really lucked out only being there three weeks.

Anyway, there I go getting side tracked again. The beach is about 10 minutes from our house, and it's pretty safe to say that this will be a usual hang out for us here. We weren't at the beach that much in Hawaii, and when we did go it was usually to Ko Olina or Hickam Beach. Well this beach is a far cry from Hawaiian beaches, but the sandbar is great, parking is convenient and the best part today was the company! We packed a lunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and were wind-blown while watching the kids play.

It's a hot spot for wind surfers as the bay picks up some fairly decent breeze. Today wasn't quite breezy, it was flat out windy. According to the weather report I looked at before hitting "submit," winds were steady at 10-20 mph today; it blew so strong the sand stung when it hit us. The kids weren't bothered too much by it since they spent so much time in the water. Keanna found a starfish, and Bri was loading up on hermit crabs. Keanna followed her everywhere, and Sydney, of course, was in tow.

We parked in a lot across the street from the beach and walked a block or two before we found an entrance to the sand. In the parking lot is a stairwell to go to the beach, so the location was perfect. We didn't know that until after we got back to the car, but at least we know for next time! Where we were today was right next to the restaurant we ate at last week during our walking tour of Zushi.

Before Keanna and Sydney got brave enough to venture into the water they were building sandcastles and digging holes. While doing that, a woman came up to them and was making conversation. I asked Keanna what the story was after we got home, and she told me that Sydney said, "Konnichiwa" to her, so she knelt down and started to talking to them. Keanna said, "I didn't know what she said, so I say 'Konnichiwa' and 'Arigato' mom." I couldn't help but laugh, and my guess is since the girls said "Good Afternoon" to her, she must have assumed they spoke Japanese. Looks like it's time for another "Don't talk to strangers" chat!

I took 296 pictures today and narrowed it down to less than half of that. I've included some in this entry, but if you want to see the rest click here. We really did have a good time today...even if we came home with sand in areas we didn't know we had.