The Bull Fight

Matt and I attended an Okinawan cultural staple: a bull fight! There are many different arenas throughout the island, and we only had to drive a few minutes down the road to the dome in our county. The cost to enter the event was only 1000 yen ($10), and you step into an open air arena with a dome for shade and concrete stadium seating surrounding a circle of dirt. I should mention that bull fighting here is not one bull against one armed human (as in Spain), but rather one bull against another. They lock horns and push against each other. Each has either a red or white ribbon tied around his tail so you can choose one to root for. The fight is over when one bull turns and runs away. No bloodshed!

In fact, the whole sport reminded me a lot of the high school wrestling matches I watched growing up. The "coaches" (I guess owners) yell encouragement and instructions at the participating bulls. The fights are divided up by weight classes so that the two competitors are the same size. Some matches are slow with the bulls at a standstill in locked horns like two heavyweights whereas others are fast with one bull ducking under the horns of another.

We saw many instances where if the bulls do not want to fight, they simply give up. While the first match lasted over thirty minutes with two very stubborn bulls, the championship match did not ever properly begin. One bull simply refused to make eye contact and turned away at the first possible moment. Nothing happens to the losing bulls. They are led out of the arena. However, there is a celebration for the winner. Music is played as the owner is presented with a bottle of sake. Blue ribbons are placed over the bull's horns and a banner over his back. The children of the owner are lifted onto the back of the bull to pose for pictures. They immediately are lifted off the bull (thank goodness), and the bull is paraded around and out of the arena.

I got hungry and decided to visit the snack stand. I was immediately confused. There were no labels in English so I did not know what the food was. I also could not tell where the line began or ended. After about fifteen minutes of confusion I admitted defeat and had Matt accompany me back to the stand. He took action - grabbing the food and holding out the money which they accepted. He made it look easy. Matt pointed to a hot dog, but instead of a bun they put it on a stick and handed it back. I purchased some kind of dumpling (I could not read the label). I found out when I bit into it that it had a sweet potato filling - the orange kind! Food in a foreign country is always an adventure!

My dumplings and program. I could read neither. 

The only part of the whole experience that made me wince was the rope through the bull's nose. There was no ring - the owner just slipped a rope through his nose and pulled. Ouch! I repeat though - no bloodshed, so overall the sport seemed very humane. 

The overall champion bull was huge! He was over 1000 kg which is over 2200 lbs. We stayed after the  match to take our picture right by the edge of the dirt circle with the winner in the background. I really enjoyed my first experience with this unique sporting event!