Undoukai - Sports Festival

Before I start, I'd like to say that, even though I mentioned before that I'm not allowed to post pictures or videos of my students or school functions, the pictures and videos in this post are of an event that was open to the public. There are several hundred, if not several thousand, recorded media of this event roaming freely somewhere, so I've taken the liberty to post some on here.

In Japan, the period from the middle to the end of May is sports festival season. Sports festivals, called undoukai or tai'ikusai, are times for the students to engage in friendly competition while showcasing their school activities and physical abilities to their parents, relatives, friends, and neighbors. The students are divided into different teams. In elementary schools, there are only 2 teams (red and white), while middle schools have 3-4 teams (of any colors).

First, there are opening ceremonies. The students march around the track like tiny little armies, waving their arms and stomping their feet in unison. Each team and class waves their own flag around, and there's a lot of pomp and circumstance. After the students have lined up, there are several speakers who officially open the sports festival.

After opening ceremonies, it's time for rajio taisou, which means "radio gymnastics (or calisthenics)". While music is played (one of my schools played Backstreet Boys!), the kids go through a set routine of moves to stretch and warm up before rigorous exercise. Most of the kids in middle school just half-ass it because rajio taisou is viewed as childish.

Some schools continue from rajio taisou into a performance routine. The kids get into formations, climb on top of each other, and strike poses. I'm not sure what the purpose of this activity is, but maybe it's some kind of team-building exercise.

The main events of the sports festival consist mostly of running. It doesn't take any special skills to run, so all the students can participate together. There are 100m sprints (70-80m for the smaller children), various relays, longer distance runs (800-1000m), and what Japanese people like to call a marason. The general accepted definition of "marathon" around here is "a long distance run", which can be anything longer than 1 km. The "marathon" at my elementary school was 1.3 km long, rather than the traditional 26 miles we English speakers are used to. Anyways, here are some cool running action shots:

Besides running, there were a variety of obstacle courses. Some were your standard obstacle courses, like crawling under nets, jumping rope, walking a balance beam, rolling a giant rubber ball, or hopping through ladders and hula hoops. Some involved running with parents and other teachers. There were several different options: run with a ball hugged between them, each person squeezed into one leg of an oversized pair of shorts, or with legs bound into a 3-legged race. One of my elementary schools even had a "recycling" obstacle course, where kids needed to crush cans, or sort items into the right bins before moving on.

And of course, a sports festival wouldn't be complete without some tug-of-war! The tug of war here is a little different, in the fact that the "goal" flags are placed tangentially from the rope, and the kids pull the rope laterally instead of in a straight line.

Each grade participated in their own special events also. The tiniest 1st graders had a ball and basket competition. Soft foam balls were laid in a circle, and the kids tried to throw as many into the central basket as they could. This game is something like the definition of adorable:

Middle school first years competed in a tarp-dragging race. All the students stand on the tarp and need to hop in unison so the pullers can slowly drag the tarp across the finish line.

The second years had a long jump-rope competition.

The third years had a "caterpillar" race. All the students in one class bound their ankles to two ropes, and had to move down the track by taking steps in unison.

My favorite was probably the 3rd year multi-event match. This consisted of a long human bridge, a 5-legged race, a team adviser tarp carry, and finally a sprint to grab the finish flag. It's hard to describe, so just watch it:

Somewhere in between all of these, there was a cheering competition called ouen gassen. The kids had practiced their routines for weeks, and used pom-poms and megaphones to dance and chant. This was a surprisingly big deal, as the winners of the ouen gassen received separate trophies from the main sports competitions.

At the end, they announced the winning team based on the results of all the sporting events combined. Since this is the last undoukai for the third year students, there was some crying as well. Finally, the principal said some final words and officially brought the sports festival to a close.

Afterwards, most of the kids and many of the teachers had horrific red sunburns on their exposed skin. After all, many of them hadn't been exposed to sunlight since the snow began falling in November. I had made sure to put sunscreen on, and I don't burn easily to begin with, so I was luckily fine. I'm just wondering how much darker my students will look when I see them again in a few weeks.

I teach at a total of 5 schools, but I was only able to go to 4 of the undoukai (some of the elementary schools overlapped). While it was fun while it lasted, my weekends were properly consumed by these 7-hour-long events. I'm kind of glad they're over so I can get my relaxation days back.

That's all for the sports festival! See you again!