During the second semester, the 2年生(ni-nen-sei or second year students) make giant kites in small groups to fly at the end of the year. The students work almost every Saturday on these kites. They do everything themselves; from thinking of a design to drawing and painting it, from cutting the bamboo sticks to the correct lengths to tying everything together. It's really been amazing to watch them make these kites.
Now that the semester is almost over, the kites are finished and for our last Saturday the students got to fly them. It's really much harder than you would think. Because the kites are so big, it takes the cooperation of the whole group to get it in the air. We were not very lucky, however, because it wasn't windy at all! So, the longest any group could keep their kite in the air was only about 1 minute. But it was still fun to watch them running and pulling to get the kites up.
If you look carefully at the pictures on the kites, you will see a sort of symmetry to them. There is always a picture on the top and a kanji (Chinese character) on the bottom. Usually, the Chinese character is also symmetrical. The whole kite together, picture + kanji, makes a phrase.
Here are some pictures of the kites. Enjoy!
I know the above four kites all have some meaning, but sorry!
I don't know enough Japanese to tell you what they mean!
Students are making sure the strings aren't tangled before take off.
Everyone is in line and ready to run!
Getting ready for another run.
We made it!
Until next time...
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