Did you “grasp” what it’s like to hold a wakubata flag nearly horizontal to the ground?

One does not simply walk into the “flag-puller” role. If the timing on the “pull-up” is even slightly off, the puller can fall off the wakubata’s frame and get hurt. For that reason, prospective flag-pullers must study with their superiors, and after they’re handpicked by the same, they finally become bonafide flag-pullers.

The Shimada-kuzushi demands perfect coordination between the flag carriers and flag-pullers. Despite that, they do not rehearse the maneuver prior to the festival. Around 40 people take part in the maneuver, about half of which are support units from other communities. It’s no problem for those accustomed to it, but for first-time flag carriers, it can be tough, and rather scary when the flag is suddenly slanted.

There are no conductors to lead the wakubata flag-carriers, nor is there any order previously arranged. And yet, someone will suddenly step up to lead the performance. Someone will brandish a stick, rapping it to indicate when to raise and when to lower the flags without a whistle. Some sub-shrines have tried the whistle before, but were scolded by the elderly festival attendees; evidently, it is important to them to prove it can be done without cue. Reportedly, there’s no choreography prepared ahead of time for the Sarutahiko’s ritual dance either, leaving that to their discretion as well.

So, how did the Shimada-kuzushi come about in the first place? Actually, at Kamowara, the procession’s final destination, large honey locust trees used to grow by the riverside. They had thorned trunks like rose stems and long branches that caught against the wakubata flags as they passed. Reluctantly, the processions would lean the flags over in order to pass the branches, and that’s how it’s said the technique was born. Nowadays those branches have been pruned away, so there is no longer a need to lean the flags over. However, there was some kind of beauty to the way they leaned, and thus it suddenly developed as an artistic technique. The best flag-pullers lower the flag as close to the ground as possible and continue walking in that near-horizontal position. When it goes well it gets a loud ovation, but even when it doesn’t, it still gets applause. It’s a heart-pumping spectacle.

Not all sub-shrines perform the Shimada-kuzushi. For instance, in the Nakajimachō-Searashi region, they instead lean two wakubata flags together to make an arch, then they parade a portable shrine underneath it. There are as many ways to participate as there are sub-shrines, which is another highlight of this festival.

And it is far from lacking in the alcohol department. Warm sake is rolled out in giant 18-liter casks, and there are some flag carriers that take a cup along in the procession, continuing the sake-sloshed ways of old. The warmed sake has a faint citrus scent, and it is dangerously easy to drink. In the past sake was a valuable commodity that could only be enjoyed on festival days, so in the early days of the Okuma-Kabuto Festival, it was not uncommon to find joyfully drunk villagers passed out in the rice paddies.

It’s a long festival, but the spectacles come one after another from dawn until dusk. If you like to drink, we encourage you to get yourself drunk along with them and live this wonderful festival to the fullest.