User:Spider spider spider

Kajiki Spider Fighting held on the third Sunday in June every year at Kajiki in Kagoshima. The fights, between two wasp spiders are similar to a traditional sumo match.

Contents 1.	Rules 2.	Spider breeding 3.	History

Rules The stage of this battle is a bar level with the ground. It is 1.5 meters high. The bamboo bar is 1cm in diameter, 45-60cm in length. First of all, we put one spider, the kamae, on the tip and put another one, the shikake, on the other side. After they weave the thread on the bar, the shikake is forced. This is the beginning of the match. A referee wearing Japanese traditional clothes sees over the battle.

The spider making either these techniques is the winner. ・Weaving thread on the opponent’s back ・Biting the opponent’s back ・Making the opponent’s fall from the bar ・Cutting the thread the opponent is hanging on

A drawn game is declared if the spiders have no will to fight.

Breeding spiders All wasp spiders taking part in the fighting are male. They are mainly collected in the south Satsuma peninsula and the south Osumi peninsula a month before the tournament starts. Entrants collected about 100 spider per-capita, and they let spiders weave webs in their gardens, cottages or in doors. They are fed flies or scarab beetles and so on. About 10 spiders are picked out before 10 days the tournament starts. It is said that spiders having long legs and postpartum spiders are strong. They don’t feed them anything 3 days before the tournament starts. Spiders are brought to match site in a net bag. The places we can get strong spiders are mostly secrets of each participant. It is said that there are various know-how involved in the breeding.

History The 17th lord of the Satsuma Province, Shimazu Yoshihiro, started spider fighting to encourage his soldiers during the battle of Bunroku (1592) and Keicho (1597). However, the old literature about it isn’t found, Kagoshima newspapers first described about the fights on June 27th in 1925.

There is a customs of spider fighting as a kind of sport in the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysian, China and Korea. In Japan it was also introduced along the coast particularly in western Japan. Spider fighting seems to be long held in Kagoshima. However its custom broke down rapidly after the World War II. Spider fighting is active especially in Kajiki.

Not only children but also adults did that. From Taisyo period (1912-1926) to early Syowa period (1930s), the spider fighting-tournament was held at the theater which was called Kajiki house every 5th lunar May. Bcause of the World War II, it was interrupted in 1944 and 1945. But in 1946 it restarted at Sugawara Shrineどこ. Later the tournament place was moved to Kajiki welfare center. And the day at the tournament has changed on third Sunday every June. In August, 1991 the Kajiki spider fighting preservation society established and was designated as the one of Japan’s intangible folklore cultural assets in 1996.