Friday, December 26, 2008

Kumo Gassen (Spider Fighting)


In Japan, kumo gassen is one of big events. Japan has this tradition since 415 years ago. This event is held in little town Kajiki. Every June, a big number of people both adult and children come to Kajiki to fight their spiders. They have searched many strong spiders and kept those spiders until they are ready to get involved in the competition. Commonly, those spiders are picked up from forest around Kajiki, but there are some spiders that came from outside. That spider must be picked up very carefully; otherwise they will get angry and don’t want to eat anything for some days. They are given insects for their food such as bug, grasshopper and cricket. Sometimes the owners spray shochu (a kind of alcoholic drink) to their spider to give them extra strength.
The rules of kumo gassen are like the other animal fighting. The difference between kumo gassen and other animal fighting is just the battle field. The battle field of kumo gassen is only a wood stick. Two spiders put on the both pole with the hand of referee in the middle of them to separate them. When the hand of umpire doesn’t separate them anymore it means that the battle starts. There’re some conditions that decide the winner spider in this battle. If one of the spiders succeeds to wrap up the backside of the enemy with his net or bite the backside of the enemy, it means that spider wins the battle. Because the movement of spider is fast so the referee must also be meticulous and has many experiences.

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