May 30, 2015

Naki-zumo, sumo of tears


It is not uncommon to hear parents complaining about their babies crying non-stop, and thus, giving them sleepless nights. And stopping a baby from crying is no mean feat, and can easily turn into an ordeal or an nightmare, as you will never know whether singing a lullaby, pulling a face or cradling them in your arms will work. There is no sure-fire formula, except, perhaps, for the self-deceiving act of putting in earplugs, pretending all is peace and quiet.

The opposite, bringing tears to a baby, is obviously a much easier task, but nobody in their mind will consider becoming the author of their own misfortune. Except, maybe Japanese. As bizarre as it may sound, a popular contest called Naki-zumo, or sumo of tears, is held around Japan every year, in which sumo wrestlers, are employed to exhaust all their means, barring violent ones, to make the baby in their arms weep, the louder the better. In each round, two sumo wrestlers holding a baby each in their arms will enter the ring, and the baby who cries first wins. In some cases, the bare formidable hugeness of the sumo wrestlers is enough to prompt them to cry out. 

But why? A popular saying in Japanese goes “Naku ko wa sodatsu”, or “crying babies grow fast”, and this apparently has given birth to this seemingly bizarre contest, or ritual. This event is commonly held at a shrine, which carries the meaning of showing the newly born babies to the guardian spirit of the place. In the modern days, this event is mainly run to pray for infants’ growth and for healthy childbirth.

This ritual, of course, is fun to watch, but whether it is appropriate to take pleasure in the pain of others may be debatable.

To help you decide whether you would like enroll your baby in this potentially cruel contest in the future, you may want to check out the first ever sumo of tears contest in Takayama city, which will be held on June 14 (Sunday) from 9am at Hida Gokoku Shrine.



You can try "Kimono Walk" all season in Takayama!

















Officially, "Hida Takayama Kimono Walk" will finish end of May.


(It will start again from September.)

There is another place you can try Kimono and Yukata.


☆Kimono Nakada☆

Rental fee

<kimono>

4800yen (tax out) for one day

10:00am-6:00pm


 <yukata>

 in summer only

 3000yen (tax out) for one day
 10:00am-6:00pm)

You can make a reservation from the form!!

MAP

May 6, 2015

Mt Norikura

The hiking season has just started in the Japanese Alps


Do you know about Mt Norikura?

Mt Norikura will be opened  from 15th May

Norikura mountains isn’t as crowded as Kamiko-chi and has some splendid mountain scenery,easy hiking trails.

A bus takes you to a bus stop called Tatamidaira(2700m above the sea level).When you get off the bus .you can enjoy alpine plants and hiking. Also you can see snow walls on the way to bus stop until middle June.Why don’t you do a day trip for Norikura.? The hiking route is easy


 You can take nohi bus [Takayama →Honokidaira ski resort →Norikura(Tatamidaira)]

Nohi bus

 It takes about 1 and half hour  to get there from Takayama