Stacia and I went to the Berkeley Kite Festival this weekend armed with a tapeless HD video camera, a 3CCD standard video game, my trusty Canon Elph and a sheet of acid. It is one of the bigger kiting events of the year and I was looking forward to watching bright and bouncy colors tug and snap on razor-thin strings...skitching with the furtive winds and blasting breezes.
You could see the kites from a mile away as they had some of the bigger ticket floaters taking the vertical point of the festival. Giant octopi seemed to be this year's big thing and they hung high with long, brilliant tentacles flopping crazily around. Throw in a giant rainbow manta-looking kite, a huge, spinning windsock, a lobster and a hundred smaller consumer models and you had a sky full of Skittles tethered to a ground.
The highlight: I managed to get into the final round of Rokkaku - or Japanese Kite Fighting.
The Rokkaku dako(六角凧) is a traditional six-sided Japanese fighting kite. Traditionally it is made with bamboo spars and washi paper. The rokkaku kite is often hand painted with the face of a famous Samurai. The structure is a vertically-stretched hexagon with a four-point bridle. One spar runs from tip to toe and there are two cross-spars. Flown on a taut string the kite is stable and rises rapidly. When the line is released the kite tumbles until tension is put on the line, at which point it takes off in the direction of the spine. Fighting two or more of these kites involves tipping over or destabilizing the opposing kite or cutting its kite line or bridle.
There were about 40 of us out on the designated playing field. Kids, adults, smarmy teens and grumpy old men each gazing up at their spot of color as is danced in the crisp, blue sky. A strong and consistent wind made flying the kite a breeze (ha, ha) but the treacherous terrain threatened snapped ankles at every step. We were given a basic overview of the rules by a boisterous fellow in a fur-lined pimp hat. It came down to this: knock the other guy's kite down. To do this you had to either "tip" your opponents kite towards the ground at which point it pretty much flies straight down - fast. Or you can tangle kite strings and work to create enough tension and abrasion to cut the other guy's line. VIDEO
I felt pretty confident in my approach to winning; let the other suckers flail around and take each other out while I masterful maneuver the mobile minefield and bide my time. Sadly, Frankie Flails-A-Lot got all ambitious and thought it'd be fun to fly his retarded and clumsy paper trash heap into my glorious and regal airborne hexagon; and became wrapped in my bridle. It's called a "death spiral" folks - and there is no recourse. It averted my eyes as #20 hit the dirt.
Kite fighting has a long, interesting history and can be found in many different cultures. The Thai version. India. Afghan. Hipster.
Yeah - I know.
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Posted by: kormzlj boypfqm | September 08, 2008 at 06:49 AM