Okinawa Bullfighting

Last week I was able to experience my first bullfight here in Okinawa. It seems to be a pretty big sport here on the island, although it's different than what you would imagine. In Spanish and Mexican bullfighting, it's bull against versus Matador - and in the end, the bull is killed with a sword. In Okinawa bullfighting, two bulls are lead into the ring by their owners and then they fight to determine which bull is the strongest. I wouldn't call it "humane" but this would be as close as it could get. The Okinawa rules are - two minutes of bull on bull contact and then the crowd picks who was the best. One article I read said to think of it like Sumo wrestling....that's actually pretty accurate.

Now that's a face only a mother could love ;)

Before the actual bullfighting began, they did a little demonstration to show all the different moves that the bulls do.

The "Demo" bulls were even anatomically correct. The Japanese think of everything!!

The CHAMPION!!