Amazing What You Can See at a Bullfight (Photo Essay)

This isn't a matador.  It's a guy demonstrating martial arts in Okinawa, Japan.

He leads a group of taiko drummers, too.

What these photos show are some of the amazing things you can see at a bullfight, only in Okinawa.

The guy in the black suit, he's the master of ceremonies.  Look at those horns !

Blue, purple, yellow and green creatures run around dancing and snapping while those cute little girls are playing their drums.

Some really ugly old ladies brought friendly looking bulls into the ring.

But, they were alright, I guess, because they passed out candy to the kids.

After they run out of candy, they start making trouble, though.

Like, one of the witches is telling her bull to go over there and fight with another one.

So, that's what he does.

When the poor bull that didn't want to fight ran away, everybody started laughing.

It's just amazing, some of the crazy things you can see at one of these bullfights.

Almost forgot.  They had some of these big guys, too !

Note to locals: If you were at the Ishikawadome in Okinawa, Japan for this event, your photo may appear in an album on my Facebook Page.

                                                      IF YOU LIKE, I CAN EMAIL ONE TO YOU.


Visit my homepage for: THE PHOTO OF THE DAY

Travel Photos: It's No Bull. This Bull Didn't Want To Fight

Sometimes this Travel Photo Thursday thing sneaks up on me and catches me off guard,

Like, today.  I had no idea what kind of photos to dig up for everybody to see.

So, I decided to look through the files and see what I was doing back in February 2009.

Here you go.  I was shooting bullfights.  Only, this bull didn't want to fight.

The bull is a little bit nervous because he's new at this sort of thing.

The handler isn't.  Look.  He didn't even wear his flip flops.

The black bull saw his competition being led into the ring.

If you've never seen an apprehensive bullseye before, you're looking at one now.

All you gotta do, if you are a bull in an Okinawan bullfight and don't really want to participate

is run out of the ring.

It's nothing to be ashamed of because you can always tell your friends

YOU TOOK SECOND PLACE !

Okinawan Bullfight: An Insider's Tip

Going back through my past blogs looking for some unique aspect of culture in this part of the world to publish on my newly created Insider's Tips Page, I found this gem. Well, it deserves an update so, here I am almost two years later dusting it off and doing some editing.

A Bullfight in Okinawa is not the bloody sport most people would imagine when they hear the word "Bullfight". Bull Wrestling would be a better description and it is similar, in many ways, to Japanese Sumo Wrestling.

There are no Matadors or swords and knives used in this sport. Some handlers are present in the ring to cheer their side of beef on and lead them in the right direction.

The bulls lock horns and have a shoving match which may last from two to twenty minutes. When one of them gets tired and runs off, the other one is declared the winner.

Every once in awhile, one of the bulls will look at the size of his opponent and decide to turn into a chicken and just run away without ever bumping heads. Then he'll run around the ring trying to find the exit. And the crowd goes wild.

So, after a few thousand clicks of the shutter on my camera, I've decided it's more fun watching the people at the Bullfights than it is watching the bulls. And the best part of the whole sport is waiting for a bull to come into the ring and run around acting like a chicken. The rest of this post in Quotation Marks is my original from March 4, 2009 back when I was too busy to form an opinion about Okinawa Bullfighting:

"Its been a pretty hectic month of shooting the bull and I thought it was all over in Febraury. Well, the bullshooting is really done, now it's a matter of getting all the, what's called post-processing done. So, it looks like these big fellas are going to be haunting me through the month of March, too.
Too tired tonight to post much of a Blog, but, if you want more of the Bull Story go to my website and click-on articles at the top of the page. Then click Okinawan Bullfight and you'll see my first attempt at putting an article on a webpage. THAT'S ALL FOLKS."

If you ever get the opportunity to see an Okinawan Bullfight, don't pass it up !

IF YOU ARE LIVING IN OR VISITING OKINAWA AND NEED MORE INFO ABOUT THE BULLFIGHT PRICES AND SCHEDULES VISIT CNNGO