Yabusame - mounted Samurais! - ooer!

This Sunday, April 15th, I'll be trying to wake up and throw off a nasty hangover brown beer festival at the Meguro Black lion - over 20 beers to get through!) and make it out to Kamakura once again to watch the Yabusame, or mounted Samurai archery.

I mean the Samurai are mounted on horses (as opposed to mounted by horses - which would entail a whole different set of skills, as well as a new pair of pants) and they fire their arrows at targets as they gallop past. All this dressed up in full Samurai regalia.

Impressive stuff, especially when you're standing metres away from these guys as they hurtle past.

Did I ever mention that I used to be something of an archer myself?
Oh, yes, back in the day, I could hit a curly wurly from 40 metres away. No mean feat. Back when we were kids in the countryside, we used to fashion bows from tree branches or young saplings and make arrows and everything. I could shoot them a fair distance (about 80metres or so). The arrows would be sharpened and we'd sometimes add flights to them. Then we'd try to shoot each other. Great times. This one time I was using a real bow and arrow and the people running the competition stuck a curly wurly in the centre of the target. They said whoever could pierce the curly wurly could then have it and eat it. At last - I had a quest! I undertook the quest for the curly wurly. The guy before me winged the curly wurly with his arrow. I only had once shot. I had to make it count. I narrowed my eyes and pulled bakc the string. I held the tension as I tried to steady my nerves. I released. The arrow shot through the air... ...and landed smack centre in the curly wurly. The curly wurly was mine!! As a consolation, I shared it with the other guy who had also hit the chocolate toffee sensation with his arrow, but not as centrally as I did.

Here's a curly wurly, in case you were wondering:

Right, back to the blog entry.
So, as long as I make it back home on the last train and I can wake up on time and make it out to Kamakura, I should be able to catch this impressive festival.
This festival is again linked to Yoritomto Minamoto (remember the Shizuka no mae blog entry?).
Pics, movies and more soon.
Also, I'll try to keep my long term memory switched on for the evening of boozing.
I'll endeavor once again to take pics and keep records of the beer I imbibe.
I'm positive that a wonderful time will be had by all.
If you're in the Toyko area and you're up for a drink or twelve, stop by the Meguro Black Lion on Sat/Sun for this Brown Beer Festival thingy. It could be interesting.
I hope it's not a typo and I turn up, only to be confronted by 20 or more lonely, single, amorous brown bears, looking for love. I should at least bring a spare pair of pants...