Traditional Japanese bullfighting

Tokyo boy Germ came to the ulu kampong of Niigata this long weekend. City boy is blown away by the vast rural landscapes of lush green ricefields and mountains.

I took him to watch traditional Japanese bullfighting in Nagaoka. It's held at the Higashiyama Familyland in Nagaoka. The bulls in the foreground and the bullfighting arena on higher ground where the white tent is.

Lean mean bull

Unlike Spanish bullfighting, Japanese bullfighting is more like a sumo match between two bulls. Humans are involved only in bringing the bulls into the ring, separating them after the match, and taking them out of the ring. During the match, the bull-trainers stand by the side and slap their bulls on the rump and shout to cheer their bulls on.

There were 15 bouts in today's tournament. The first bout was cancelled because the bulls were inexperienced and didn't know how to fight. Another bout was cancelled because the bulls were from the same training house and refused to fight.

Things I learnt:

1. Apparently, bulls' eyes turn red when they're in fighting mode. (You can see the white cards showing the names of the bulls competing in each match and the training houses they're from)

2. Japanese bulls do not get angry and charge at anything red in colour. (Proof: Check out the bull-trainer dressed in a bright red t-shirt at the bottom left.)

Check out some short videos of the bullfights here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kxt61hSfZOI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrL9LoeEPts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jeHs3YsygA