The Kashima Gatalympics is an event held in the mudflats of the

Ariake Sea The is a body of salt water surrounded by Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki, and Kumamoto Prefectures, all of which lie on the island of Kyūshū in Japan. It is the largest bay in Kyūshū. Its deepest point is only about 50 meters (165 ft) deep, and ...

off Kashima city in

Saga Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu. Saga Prefecture has a population of 809,248 (1 August 2020) and has a geographic area of 2,440 km2 (942 sq mi). Saga Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the northeast and Nagasak ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. The event takes place every year at the end of May. Participants compete in novelty games such as the mud

sumo is a form of competitive full-contact wrestling where a ''rikishi'' (wrestler) attempts to force his opponent out of a circular ring (''dohyō'') or into touching the ground with any body part other than the soles of his feet (usually by thr ...

tournament, the 25m dash and the surf board race. The Ariake Sea has a tidal range of six metres, which on a low tide, exposes the mudflats on which the games take place. It has become a well known event throughout the Saga Prefecture with around 300 athletes participating each year.

History

When the prefecture plan for Saga was published in 1984, it was decided that Kashima City would not have a highway or a

Shinkansen The , colloquially known in English as the bullet train, is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan. Initially, it was built to connect distant Japanese regions with Tokyo, the capital, to aid economic growth and development. Beyond l ...

connection. Mr. Masahiko Kuwahara, the mayor of Kashima, was also the president of the junior chamber. He created a committee called "Forum Kashima" to improve the city's cultural calendar. As a result, the 1st Kashima Gatalympic event was held on May 3, 1985. As the Gatalympics became well known, the mudflats that had been previously neglected were improved. As a result, the mudflats became an important and valued symbol for the growth of the city as a whole. When deciding on a name, initially "The big athletic meet on the mudlats" was proposed. Later, a second name "The Gata-olympic big athletic meet on the mudflats" was suggested. This was eventually being shortened to just the "Gatalympics". The term "Gatalympics" comes from the name of mudflats in Japanese, Kashima Higata (鹿島干潟) and the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

Events

* The 2007 Event was on 27 May. The opening ceremony commenced at 10am, with events from 11am to 3pm. * The 2009 Gatalympics were held on 7 June. * The 30th Kashima Gatalympics took place on 25 May 2014.

In popular culture

* The Gatalympics was featured in the anime

Zombie Land Saga is an anime television series produced by MAPPA, Avex Pictures and Cygames. The series aired in Japan between October and December 2018. A second season titled ''Zombie Land Saga Revenge'' aired between April and June 2021. An anime f ...

, bringing wide popularity to the event.

References

* 1/2/3/4. {{cite web , last = Kashima Gatalympic official website , title = ガタリンピックってなに？ , url=http://www2.saganet.ne.jp/gatalym/gatalympic/gatalympic.htm , accessdate = 2007-03-20

External links

Official Web Site
in

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

Festivals in Saga Prefecture Sports festivals in Japan Sport in Saga Prefecture Recurring sporting events established in 1985 1985 establishments in Japan