Oisa! Yamakasa!

On Tuesday morning Fukuoka held its annual July 15th festival, Yamakasa.  The festival preparations had already begun when I arrived on the 27th, which seems a bit strange considering the festival itself only last about an hour and a half.  The main event is a race through the streets of Fukuoka by 7 teams of traditionally-dressed (ie, half-naked) men carrying portable shrines.  The race begins at 5 am and ends by 6:30.  Young and old participate, and while it is the young men who bear the brunt of carrying the shrine (I saw some young guys with bloody shoulders), children and old men help out by running along side and yelling, "Oisa!"  I'm still not sure what "Oisa" means or even if it means anything, but it certainly gets the crowd going.  People lined the streets cheering and throwing buckets of water on the runners to keep them cool.  I've posted a video below of one of the teams.  Sorry, I can't figure out how to flip it around so you have to watch it sideways.  I'll keep working on flipping it.  Be sure to turn you're volume on because you can here the Oisas on the recording.  While it was not fun to get up at 4:30 am, the event was exciting, and I'm glad it just happened to correspond with my visit.  

Thanks for checking in!