Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Ten Photos of What Takes Place Before a Sabani Race from Zamami to Okinawa Island

A Well Organized Annual Event

 

 

There may be anywhere from 30-40 teams participating in the race.

Furuzamami Beach is the starting point and, the sabani boats are staged a day or two early.


sabani boat teams practice

Late afternoon and early evening, the night before the race, you can see teams practicing.

sabani team of four, brown sail

A boat might have two members on the team or, as many as six.

beach cleanup

Before the sun sets, everybody beaches their boats.

And all hands, participate in a beach cleanup.


camera on remote helicopter

A couple of cameramen had this remote controller helicopter.

They could video the event from start to finish with that camera way up in the sky.


sabani teams at picnic tables


As the sun started dipping down behind the hills, everybody returned to Zamami Port.

Refreshments and festival foods were served.

Opening ceremonies took place with the usual speeches and such.

team members relax
People just relax and enjoy themselves while waiting for showtime to begin.


junior Hula Dancers

Cute, little Hula dancers were anxious to perform on the stage.


Hula

And, there were some, more mature ones, involved in the show, too.


Eisa dancers with drums

Nothing, sounds better than Eisa Dance being performed on a wooden stage.

All that foot stomping and drum beating, reverberated through the hills.


Eisa dancers kneel on stage

Once the sun sets, it gets quiet again and the sabani teams have to go get some sleep.

The next morning, they will sail and row those boats, all the way back to Naha, Okinawa !






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