| The Chinese Period’s Boat Races and the Itoman Hare There are no dragon decorations on the Itoman hare bune (boats). According to a report titled Annual Events of Various Countries, edited by the Japanese Railroad Ministry in 1940, in the Fujian region of China there is a boat race where the boats do not have dragon decorations. It seems there was even a duck-catching race. During China’s Nanzan period, a tributary ship route passed through the Min River.Duck-catching races were held on the banks of this river. According to the National Ethnology Museum’s research report, volume II, issue #1, “The tale of the Dragon God (Dragon Woman) and the Dragon Boat Festival,” in the past in China boats had been decorated with images of waterfowl. The waterfowl were flying against the wind. It’s said this brought luck by placating the water god. An old copper drum unearthed at Mt. Shizhai in Jinning county, Yunnan province, China, is decorated with a boat pattern that looks very much like Itoman’s Ugwan Bare. Like Itoman’s sabani the boats in the pottern have no dragon designs on them. Also like the Itoman Hare buni (boat), the boats have wave patterns drawn on them. The rowers in the pattern have birds’ wings flowing from their heads and, like in the Itoman Hare, the helmsmen navigates without the use of a scull. Also, a defi is standing in the middle of the boat. The picture looks exactly like Ugwan Bare. There are even waterfowl that look like ducks swimming around the boats. |
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  Right: Copper drum with boat pattern unearthed at Mt. Shizhai, Jinning county, Yunnan province (Source: Ryotoku Shimabukuro). |
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According to the research paper, “Study of copper drum unearthed in Jinning county, Yunnan province”, published in China’s Culture and Civilization record, the boats on the copper drum are long, narrow and light-weight. It’s noted that these boats and the oarsmen resemble the boat races held today in the Yangtze River basin. It’s quite plausible that the race shown in this boat pattern is the origin of the Itoman Hare. |
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| Itoman Hare History, Ugwan Bare Ceremony （top） |
Itoman Hare History（２） |
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