School Kids With Long Sticks?

[arancarlisle]

Me and my girlfriend were in Japan last month. One Sunday we were in Tokyo and noticed quite a few people on the subway carrying two long skinny cases. One looked long and skinny like it might contain a flag stick, and the other was about 1/3 the length of the long one, but was quite a bit thicker.

In particular we saw a few school girls in uniform with these cases and were very curious about what they contained.

Anybody know what was in these long skinny cases?

[The Frankensteiner]

Hmmm...interesting.
Your guess is as good as mine on this one.
Does any one know? Now my curiousity is peaked as well.

[arancarlisle]

What really piqued our interest was that we were later in a toy store and saw a box toy line that featured girls in different school uniforms. One of the figures in the line was a girl carrying these same skinny cases.

Our guess is that the long case held a flag pole, and the smaller case held a rolled up flag, and that these girls were on a flag team?

[The Frankensteiner]

Sounds plausible.
Do they have whole teams devoted to just the art of waving flags in Japan?

[Sakura]

I think they were carrying Kyudo (the Way of the Bow) equipment: the long stick is the bow and the short case is the arrow case. I sometimes see girls belonging to a Kyudo club at school carrying them on train Sorry for the late reply

[ianwarney]

also sorry for the late reply. and Sakura is right; they were carrying Kyudo equipment. one of my students is in the archery (Kyudo) club at her high school and often comes to my lessons after, still carrying her equipment. one long case for the actual bow (unstrung, of course) and the second case for the glove and any other stuff (like an extra bow string). if you ever have the chaance to watch Japanese Archery in action, i reccomend it. there are a few competitions throughout the year but one of particular note is in Kyoto at Sanjusan-gendo temple in January every year.

[arancarlisle]

Thanks for the answer! That would explain why I also saw an older man carrying around the same type of long skinny cases.