Let's get physical

Every fall, every school in Japan holds a sports day.  It is an annual celebration of being physical.  Sports Day, called undoukai (oo-n-doe-kai), is held on the weekend, unless it is rescheduled because of typhoon!  This way parents can be involved with the big day.

When I lived in Japan 16 years ago, I taught in a junior high school.  I was floored by Sports Day.  It isn't like any field day I had in school.  Since seeing this special day for myself, I have always understood it to be the big deal that it was.  What amazed me today was talking to my husband and he told me remembered his Sports Day.  It is a very big deal here.

We got up as usual this morning.  My son got dressed in a white shirt and his blue uniform shorts.  He then donned his pink athletic hat, name tag, and tennis shoes.  He was ready to go to the school. 

We arrived at the school, along with all the other families.  The school yard had chalk lines drawn all over the dirt.  We found a place in the shade and put our little mat down to sit on.  The program started right on time.  After a short welcome by the principal and the teachers, we were treated to a taiko performance by the older students.  The school had made taiko from big plastic tubs.  They ended their performance with some parachute fun.  Watching the kids play with the parachute brought back many happy memories for me.  I loved playing with them in gym class as a kid.  Puffing them up and climbing inside the mushroom was always my favorite.

Up next was the younger class's races.  They lined up in groups of four.  My son has been practicing running.  He wants to win at running so very much.  So when he came in first in his heat, I was super proud of him. 

Following the races, the older kids raced with homemade mikoshi (portable shrines).  It was a thrilling race, as some of the mikoshis fell off while the kids were running.  One kid grabbed the mikoshi the wrong way and ran the whole race backwards.  For a 6 year old, it was quite impressive.

The day continued with dances by the kids and a tug of war by former students as well as more foot races.  Soon it was time for my son's class to race against the other younger class to throw as many balls into a net as possible.  It was a fun race as music played and the kids tossed and tossed the little balls into the net high above their heads.  My son was sad that his class didn't win, but he still enjoyed the pursuit.

Up next, the parents joined in the fun by racing with huge balls in a relay.  It was very exciting for the kids and they cheered excitedly as the parents did their best.

Finally, there were some more dances.  The older kids performed followed by a group dance between parents and their child.  My husband joined our son and they danced with joy. 

The day ended with the awarding of participation medals.  Typically I am not a fan of participation medals, but I wholehearted thing that all of these kids earned those medals.  They spent so much time and energy putting on this Sports Day.  It was truly great to see them all working together and having such a good time.

It is no wonder that my husband still remembers the Sports Days of his childhood.  They are a really big deal here.  They are a day of teamwork and happy memories and feeling proud of oneself.