Matsuri da! (50): How long’s yer spud, pardner?

PEOPLE HAVE EMPLOYED MANY METHODS over the years to foretell the future. Some in ancient Greece consulted the Oracle at Delphi. Others have used the Tarot or a pack of playing cards. A few go downtown to see the gypsy with the gold-capped tooth. People in East Asia have used yarrow stalks or cracked tortoise shells to read the I Ching for millenia.

And then there are those who measure taro plants.

I don’t have to tell you it’s part of a Japanese festival, now do I?

Who are these taro prophets? They’re the young people of Hino-cho in Shiga Prefecture taking part in the Imo Kurabe Festival, which literally means “comparing taro plants”. They’ve gotten together annually for more than 800 years to see if length really does matter by stretching a tape alongside locally grown tubers, or, to be scientific about it, Colocasia esculenta Schott. This year’s event was held on September 1.

The festival starts with a Shinto ceremony at the nearby Kumano Shinto shrine. When it’s over, the participants, dressed in a traditional garment called a kamishimo (see photo), head for the real action at the festival site on a nearby mountain top.

This being a Japanese festival, they don’t just stand around with rulers in their hands. They measure the plants, which are tied to lengths of bamboo, while performing a dance. One report says the choreography resembles the way folks stumble around while drunk.

As if they had to tell us!

The showdown is held between those grown in the town’s eastern district and those grown in the western district. The measurements are taken from the root to the leaves. If the plants from the western district are the longest, there will be a bountiful harvest. If the farmers from the east side have produced the prize spuds, there will be a poor harvest. This event has been designated one of the country’s important intangible folk and cultural treasures.

Perhaps I’m missing something, but why would the east side be so anxious to have the longest taro plant?

The entire ceremony takes more than an hour. Reports also say that the young people from both districts refuse to give in and admit defeat, which necessitates frequent remeasurement, which in turn generates a lot of merriment among the spectators.

This year, the east side won for the second year in a row. Their plant was 2.4 meters long, while the west side’s measured a mere 1.9 meters.

They were arguing over 50 centimeters? That’s almost 20 inches. And that took more than an hour of remeasuring?

Either the western district farmers need to use better fertilizer, or they should get their eyes examined!