Sports Day

The 1964 Olympics opened on October 10th in Tokyo. That date became Sports Day all over Japan. In our area, schools have their undokai (sports competitions) either in October or May. Announcements, cheers and music ring out through the neighborhood. Today was quiet so maybe the undokai was in May. We don't have anyone in school in the neighborhood anymore and I don't remember last May (two months after the earthquake and tsunami!)

This photo is from Little Brother's last year in junior high. Only the guys in his grade did this. They had to keep in sync to keep from falling. At least one in every group had a bandaged knee from practice. During the event, no one fell.

Little Brother is now in high school downtown. His Sports Day competition was last May and was held in the gym. (Taking good photos in a gym is hard so I don't have any to share.) For old posts about Sports Day click here or on the labels and links below.

Kids Web Japan Sports Day
general
manga
activities

Sports Day

Today was a national holiday for Sports Day. Click on the labels below for past posts. Little Brother's junior high had its Sports Day last June. Big Sister's high school had its Sports Day in September.

It was a beautiful day today. I didn't hear any loudspeakers in our area today or over the weekend.

Check the Kids Web Japan link, too.

Kids Web Japan--Sports Day

Sports Day

October 11th is usually the nation's offcial Sports Day. Both Little Brother and Big Sister have already had their Sports Day for this school year. They had them last spring. Some schools hold Sports Day in May. Their junior high and high schools do not make a big deal out of it like their elementary school did. Click on the label below to see past posts.

Sports Day

The official Sports Day is the second Monday of October, but some schools have their Sports Day events in May. Little Brother had his in May. Big Sister had hers on the first weekend of this month. Check the label below for more posts about Sports Day.

Kids Web Japan--Sports Day

Sports Day

Today was Sports Day at Little Brother's school. The official Sports Day is in October, but some schools have it in May.

This is the first time I have seen the national flag flown at the school, so I wanted to take a picture of it. Actually, it's a better picture of this old lady's hat. There was no way around her hat! She wouldn't move and I couldn't! Any way I moved I would've been blocking grandmothers on camp chairs.

They all could have been sitting here. Older guests could sit in padded chairs in the shade under a canopy.

All of the students had to sit in the sun. Little Brother was on the white team this year. Their hats are reversible. The other side is red. He was on the red team last year.

Here are the students' chairs. They carried them from their classrooms and carried them back afterwards.

By the way, the white team won this year.

Check the posts for May of last year to see more about Sports Day events.

Sports Day Events: The Rope and The Dance

Any idea what this was for?

These students are waiting to start their dance. Every year, each grade performs a dance. Except sixth grade. Sixth graders do a gymnastic routine. The students in the picture had to wear black clothes for their dance. One grade just had pompoms. Another wore gloves.

Check the posts for May of last year to see more about Sports Day events.

Sports Day Event: Bean Bag Toss

Sports Day was postponed from last Saturday to today. Unfortunately, it is Wednesday so many fathers and older siblings couldn't attend. At Little Brother's elementary school, there is a white team and a red team. They wear their usual school P.E. uniform. The hat they always wear has a red side and a white side. When they form teams they just flip the hat to their team's color.

Both teams for Sports Day have members from all grades. No awards or ribbons are given to individual students. Teams get points when they win an event. The points are displayed on the side of the school. Large paper cards are put manually into slots.

There is an opening ceremony. A small student band leads everyone onto the field. (They usually play "Life Goes On" by the Beatles.) The principal makes a speech. A small group of "cheerleaders" lead their teams in chants. They do warm-up exercises to music and then "march" back to their seats. (They had brought their chairs from the classroom earlier.)

Here are two pictures of an event for first graders. The red team stands in a circle at one end of the playground and the white team stands in a circle at the other end. They do a little dance with music. When the music stops they run to the center to pick up bean bags to toss into the basket. Afterwards, the whole crowd counts aloud as a teacher tosses each bag into the air. The team who has the most bags wins the points for the event.

Sports Day Event: Bamboo Poles

Here are pictures of one event using bamboo poles. Students pass a bamboo pole from one group to another. They first run and carry it about 30 meters, they go around a cone, and then run back to the group. Before passing it onto the next group, they must run the pole under the feet of the whole group. The group jumps up as they pass it under them. Then they pass it back over their heads to the front of the whole team. The next group takes the pole, runs with it, and does the same thing before passing it to the next group.

Bamboo poles are also used for tug of war. Several poles are pulled by groups of about five students. Other events include relays and 50 and 100 meter races. Second graders race in groups pushing a big ball. First graders do a bean bag toss. Each grade 1-4 performs dances. Grades 5 and 6 do a gymnastic routine. Whole teams do the final event.

Sports Day Event: The Finale

This is the last event of the competition at Little Brother's school. The red team is on one end of the field. The white team is on the other. Each team has a big ball. The balls are moved over the heads of the team and then rolled across the playground back to the starting plate. This is done twice. They do a tiebreaker if there is a tie.

At the end of this event, everyone goes back to their seats. The small band leads them back onto the playground to stand at attention in lines while the final score is displayed on the side of the school building.

Then the principal makes a speech, team leaders thank their teams, and they all do some exercises. They go back to get their chairs to take them back to their classrooms. The red team won both times in this event but both teams tied in the final score! Everyone was happy.