NOTE: Images with an icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 170 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/6.3, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Traditional Japanese Mounted Archer
Ritual “Yabusame” Archery at the Shimogamo Shrine, Kyoto Japan

We went to a traditional “yabusame” archery rite today at the Shimogamo Shrine, part of the month-long “Aoi Matsuri” Festival, whose most well-known part is the Aoi Matsuri procession in the middle of May.

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 500 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/6.3, ISO 1250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Archery At Full Gallop

You can read about “Yabusame” on Wikipedia, but in short, this yabusame mounted archery involves an archer on a horse at full gallop running a 280-yard straight track with three small targets at equal intervals. The archer has but a few seconds between each one to grab an arrow, prepare it, aim, and shoot, and then must do it again two more times, all the while riding a horse at full gallop on a very thin track, without using his hands (because he's using them for the bow and arrows). As a specific discipline, it dates back about 800 years.

The targets are small (today's were about one square foot) but are fairly close to the track, so hitting them from that distance is not much of a challenge. The tricky part involves the whole “horse at full gallop” thing, as well as the “hands-free riding” and “just a few seconds between targets” bits. It's apparently a heady combination, because even though this particular shrine's yabusame rite is the most famous in Japan, with 15 presumably-elite riders from around the country (mostly from Tokyo and Kyoto) getting one run each, I think only four were able to hit all three targets.

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 50 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/6.3, ISO 1800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Breakneck Speed With the Long Bow

What surprised me the most was the speed... I've seen countless full-gallop horses in movies, and I've been to a horse-racing track, but nothing prepared me for the explosive speed of these horses flying by at 35mph. It took several riders before I could even start to follow them with the camera.

For a better sense of the action, here's a link to the middle of a video on YouTube from the event at this same location a couple of years ago: Yabusame video.

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 500 mm — ¹/500 sec, f/9, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
First Rider Heads To the Start

I hadn't been particularly interested in going, but we wanted Anthony to see it, and while he enjoyed it very much as we expected, we were surprised at how much we enjoyed it as well. It was quite exciting.

I almost didn't even bother bringing the camera, but am glad I did. The event wasn't really set up for photography (at least not good photography), and my primary concern was Anthony, and indeed, none of the shots I've seen so far could be called “quality”, but I'm happy for the memories. (I haven't even seen most of the photos yet... I don't have time for a proper writeup this evening, so I'm just sharing a few of the snapshots from early in the bunch.)

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 380 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/6.3, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Young Archer
going much, much faster than his composed expression belies

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 116 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/6.3, ISO 2000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Better Look at His Horse
( in the 3.6 seconds since the previous picture, he's shot one target and is already loading the next arrow )

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 380 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/9, ISO 2000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Heading Back

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 240 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/9, ISO 2200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Helpers

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 116 mm, cropped — ¹/400 sec, f/6.3, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Direct Hit
one down, two to go

The shot above illustrates what I got most of: people's heads. The original is even worse, but I cropped out most of the crowd in this one. But, at least it shows the target (what used to be a square of wood held by an upright of bamboo) and the bunt-end arrow.

A miss is silent, but a hit makes a loud and satisfying whap! sound.

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 500 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/6.3, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
Looking Down Track
workers in yellow replace a target; scrum of cameramen await next rider

Me
with child shoulder weight added to steady the camera
( photo by Fumie with her cell-phone camera )

Continued here...

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Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 170 mm — ¹/640 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
“Beware of Wild Boar”

We're back from our short (two-night) trip to Awaji Island, about a two-hour drive south. The day started early so I'm glad to be home at a reasonable hour. On the way home, we stopped by a highway rest stop in the middle of nowhere, and were tickled to see a sign that says exactly what Fumie bids Anthony off to school with (as described on this post). We hadn't thought that such a sign would actually exist.

This was the last of the (only 800) pictures I took on the trip.

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Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 500 mm — ¹/8000 sec, f/6.3, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Morning Rush Hour
on Osaka Bay, Japan

Up this morning on our current mini trip in time to watch the sunrise.

(For definitions of “in time” meaning “less than an hour too late”.)

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Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 240 mm — ¹/1000 sec, f/10, ISO 3200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Sunset Over the Seto Inland Sea
From Awaji Island, Japan

We're on a short three-day Golden Week trip, visiting Awaji Island. We'll probably visit the Awaji Flower Review tomorrow, as we did once last year.

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Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 58 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/5, ISO 5000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Conquering the Wilderness
Hike on Mt. Daimonji, Kyoto Japan

I mentioned the other day in my post about some drama on Mt. Daimonji that I'd hiked with Anthony. Here are some shots from the first part of the hike.

Unlike the last time we did this three years ago, when I had to carry him most of the way, this time he could handle himself, so I was free to bring my new big lens, and decided to give my little-used monopod a try as well.

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 240 mm — ¹/640 sec, f/6, ISO 560 — map & image data — nearby photos
Yes
I'll pose for one photo, then let's go!

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 240 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/6, ISO 5000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Little Boys
belong in the dirt

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 140 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/5.6, ISO 5000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Sliding Down
it's hard to tell in this shot, but he's on a very steep slope going down to a log-strewn stream

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 50 mm — ¹/640 sec, f/5.6, ISO 3600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Tall · Steep · Thin

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 95 mm — ¹/640 sec, f/5, ISO 3600 — map & image data — nearby photos
returning after retrieving what is now
His Sword

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 95 mm — ¹/640 sec, f/5, ISO 2000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Off To Save The World

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 500 mm — ¹/640 sec, f/8, ISO 4000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Glowing Ferns

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 170 mm — ¹/640 sec, f/5.6, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Starting Down to the Stream Again

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 420 mm — ¹/640 sec, f/6.3, ISO 5000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Depth

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 500 mm — ¹/640 sec, f/6.3, ISO 280 — map & image data — nearby photos
Heaven
little boys seek out mud like, er, little boys seeking out mud
( these shoes are relatively new, so the attraction is particularly strong )

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 460 mm — ¹/250 sec, f/13, ISO 5000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Frazzled

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 78 mm — ¹/640 sec, f/5, ISO 5000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Pickup Sticks
( like these )

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 240 mm — ¹/160 sec, f/11, ISO 5000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Delicate Moss
growing on tree bark

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 50 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/5, ISO 5000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Jumble of Toothpicks
looking upstream to a 15-foot waterfall
( in a totally flat photo that could have been spectacular if.... what? I never do well with these.)

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 140 mm — ¹/640 sec, f/5.6, ISO 5000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Forging Ahead

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 290 mm — ¹/500 sec, f/6.3, ISO 5000 — map & image data — nearby photos
More Down-to-the-River Detours

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 500 mm — ¹/250 sec, f/6.3, ISO 5000 — map & image data — nearby photos
City Traffic
now with two swords

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 58 mm — ¹/160 sec, f/8, ISO 5000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Huge Leap
over the two-foot span

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 50 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/6.3, ISO 5000 — map & image data — nearby photos
View from the Path

To be continued...