The Hare bell rings, and the Southern Kingdom’s rainy season ends.
Since long ago it has been said that when the Hare bell rings the rainy season ends. Every year in Itoman on the 4th day of the 5th month of the lunar calendar the brave Itoman Hare is held in the Itoman Port to give thanks to the sea for its blessing and to pray for bountiful ocean harvests and safe voyages at sea.In the old days, it’s said 450 to 580 years before today, the Itoman Hare was started by O Oso, a Tomigusuku castle lord who later became the King of Nanzan. O Oso saw the dragon boat races in China and upon his return to Okinawa started boat races in Itoman. Nowadays Hare is established amongst the local people as one of the two largest annual events held in Itoman ? along with Itoman’s Giant Tug-of-War that is held on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar. As Hare is the only sea festival it is a grand event.
The Itoman Hare is a fishermen’s festival held to pray for bountiful ocean harvests and safe voyages at sea. At present the representative of Itoman’s fishermen, the Itoman Fishermen’s Union Leader, is the chairperson of the festival committee and organizes the event in cooperation with Itoman City and local citizens.
In order to preserve the tradition of the festival, one of the races is a contest between three villages that existed in ancient times ? Nishimura, Nakamura, and Mijima. In each Hare boat, sabani, there are 12 people - 10 rowers, a helmsman, and a standard-bearer. In the Ugwan Bare there are 13 members due to the addition of a defi ? a flag-bearer who stands in the middle of the boat and chants and waves flags to keep the rowers in synchronization. Each team competes for the honor of their village.
In the Hare Festival of today there are various types of boat races. The Ugwan Bare (Guruugwan), Agai Subu, Kunnukase (a race where boats are deliberately capsized), Junior High Student Bare, and Youth Group Bare are races between teams representing the three villages ? Nishimura, Nakamura, and Mijima. In events open to the local people, senior high school student, teacher, and company teams compete. In the general entry category there are novelty events like duck catching and watermelon gathering races. The events with the longest history are Ugwan Bare and Agai Subu. These two events have represented the Itoman Hare festival since long ago and have deep connections with religious rites and ceremonies.
Early in the morning on the day of the Hare Festival, the Nanzan priestess and Itoman priestess administer a religious ceremony on Santinmo - a hill in the center of Aza Itoman. The priestesses perform ancient rites, including a Hare prayer ceremony. It is customary practice for the Ugwan Bare to begin after the prayer is completed.
After Ugwan Bare finishes the members of each team file up to Hakugin Shrine in the order they finished the race in, to visit Itoman’s patron god Ibinme. At the shrine a representative from each team receives a cup of sake from the priestess. Afterwards, the team members form a circle in the grounds of Hakugin Shrine and each team sings their village’s Hare song. After the Hare competitors have left the shrine the priestesses go to a sacred place by the sea near Hakugin Shrine called Su-shi notify the Dragon King that the Ugwan Bare was completed successfully.
The final event is Agai Subu. Before the race an ancient ceremony is preformed in which the ornate festival committee’s boat is anchored in the center of the port, and each of the village’s teams go out in their Agai Subu hare buni (boat) and row in a circle around the festival committee’s boat. Nishimura always goes first, followed by Nakamura, then Mijima. Each team sings their hare song as they row three times clockwise around the festival committee’s boat.
At 2,160 meters the Agai Subu is the longest of the Hare races, Ugwan Bare is 850m. Agai Subu is the best opportunity to see the spirit of the fishermen as they paddle with all their might in a competition of strength and skill. Winning this race is the greatest honor of the festival. The team that wins this race earns a lot of points so the order the teams finish in has a big influence on which team wins the overall championship. Each village takes the race very seriously, entering its most skilled and powerful rowers.
After Agai Subu the hare competitors all go to Nundunchi - the Itoman priestess’s house. Following ancient tradition they always go in the order of Nishimura first, followed by Nakamura, then Mijima, regardless of the order they finished the race in. The competitors sing the Hare song as they enter through the priestess’s house’s gate. In the priestess’s garden all team members then receive sake from the priestess, followed by each team singing their village’s hare song as an offering.
Itoman’s Hare is a festival that begins and ends with a prayer ceremony. Hare’s races begin with Ugwan Bare, followed by entertaining junior high school and occupation-based races, and finishes with Agai Subu.
Itoman’s women don’t compete in Hare, but they enthusiastically support their village’s team. Over 30,000 people attend the festival annually. Many foreigners also attend, giving the festival an international feel.
In Itoman City other traditional hare festivals, for example, the Aza Kyan and Nashiro Hare festivals are held.
The festival date
2011 June 5 (Sunday)
2011 June 5 (Sunday)