is a
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese traditional game in which a player scoops
goldfishGoldfish are small ornamental freshwater fish that are commonly kept as pets. Goldfish were one of the earliest breed of fish to be domesticated and are still one of the most commonly kept fish in aquariums and outdoor water gardens.Goldfish were originally domesticated from the Prussian carp ,...
with a special scooper. It is also called, "Scooping Goldfish", "Dipping for Goldfish" or "Snatching Goldfish". "
Kingyo" means goldfish and "
sukui" means scooping. Sometimes
bouncy ballA bouncy ball, power ball or super ball is a popular toy which rebounds proportionally to the amount of force used when thrown at a hard surface. A typical bouncy ball can keep around 80% of its kinetic energy in one rebound....
s are substituted for goldfish. Japanese summer festivals or
ennichiEnnichi is a day believed to have a special relation with a particular Japanese deity. Often, it is a day when a deity is believed to have been born or left the world. In Shinto, this day is encouraged to be embraced as it is in the "four affirmations" of their religious code...
commonly have a stall. Both children and adults enjoy the game. The game is played for pleasure, but today, there is a National Competition of Goldfish Scooping in Japan.
Each person plays individually.
is a
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese traditional game in which a player scoops
goldfishGoldfish are small ornamental freshwater fish that are commonly kept as pets. Goldfish were one of the earliest breed of fish to be domesticated and are still one of the most commonly kept fish in aquariums and outdoor water gardens.Goldfish were originally domesticated from the Prussian carp ,...
with a special scooper. It is also called, "Scooping Goldfish", "Dipping for Goldfish" or "Snatching Goldfish". "
Kingyo" means goldfish and "
sukui" means scooping. Sometimes
bouncy ballA bouncy ball, power ball or super ball is a popular toy which rebounds proportionally to the amount of force used when thrown at a hard surface. A typical bouncy ball can keep around 80% of its kinetic energy in one rebound....
s are substituted for goldfish. Japanese summer festivals or
ennichiEnnichi is a day believed to have a special relation with a particular Japanese deity. Often, it is a day when a deity is believed to have been born or left the world. In Shinto, this day is encouraged to be embraced as it is in the "four affirmations" of their religious code...
commonly have a stall. Both children and adults enjoy the game. The game is played for pleasure, but today, there is a National Competition of Goldfish Scooping in Japan.
Rules
Each person plays individually. The basic rule is that the player scoops goldfish from a pool with a scooper called "
poi" and brings them to a bowl with it. This game requires carefulness and quickness as the
poi can be easily torn. The game is over when the
poi is completely broken. Even if one part of the
poi is torn, the player can continue the game with the remaining part.
At
ennichi or summer festival stalls, the game is not a competition. Participation typically costs around 100yen and players can take scooped goldfish home with a special bag. The game is unlimited, so players can scoop until their pois are completely broken. If they cannot scoop even one goldfish, the shopkeeper of the stall may kindly give them two or so. Each stall usually has its own rule. For example, there are some stalls where players can get a stronger
poi if they pay more. Other stalls give players special presents if they scoop a lot. In some variations, there are also medaka (Japanese killfish) that are faster and harder to catch than goldfish. Usually, for every four goldfish, there is one medaka, so in
ennichi, if you catch one, it is counted as four goldfish.
At National Championship of Scooping Goldfish, players follow the official rules that are different from above (see National Championship of Scooping Goldfish).
Requirements
The things necessary to play goldfish scooping is a pool which goldfish swim in, a poi, a bowl to keep scooped goldfish, a special bag with which to bring goldfish home, and goldfish themselves.
Pool
Usually, the goldfish are placed in a small plastic pool about 1m² and 20 cm (8") depth.
Poi consists of a round plastic frame and handgrip, and paper on the frame. Poi’s paper can easily break when it is put into water, so players should not move Poi fast. There are some classes inp Poi's paper; is weaker, and is stronger. In some stalls, staff have unbreakable
Poi which consist of net instead of paper to scoop goldfish.
Bowl
The bowl is usually made of plastic in a half-sphere shape, the diameter is about 15cm.
This is used to store the scooped goldish.
Goldfish
Varieties of goldfish often used in goldfish scooping are "Koaka", "Demekin", and "Anekin".
See
GoldfishGoldfish are small ornamental freshwater fish that are commonly kept as pets. Goldfish were one of the earliest breed of fish to be domesticated and are still one of the most commonly kept fish in aquariums and outdoor water gardens.Goldfish were originally domesticated from the Prussian carp ,...
.
History
This game started in the late
Edo periodThe , or , is a division of Japanese history running from 1603 to 1868 and is the premodern era. The period marks the governance of the Edo or Tokugawa shogunate, which was officially established in 1603 by the first Edo shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu. The period ended with the Meiji Restoration, the...
, around 1810. In those days,
pois were made of nets, and it was one of the children's plays.
Pois came to be made of paper and stalls started it in
Taishō periodThe , or Taishō era, is a period in the history of Japan dating from July 30, 1912 to December 25, 1926, coinciding with the reign of the Taishō Emperor. The health of the new emperor was weak, which prompted the shift in political power from the old oligarchic group of elder statesmen to the Diet...
, around 1910.
The game became more and more popular, and National Championship of Scooping Goldfish began in 1995. Today, it is so popular that people will surely see the stall at
ennichi or summer festivals in Japan. On the other hand, it becomes a serious problem that scooped goldfish are not properly bred in the players' homes.
National Championship of Goldfish Scooping
is the biggest official competition managed by National Scooping Goldfish Association and
Yamatokōriyamais a city located in Nara, Japan.As of August 31 2006, the city has an estimated population of 93,280 and the density of 2,185.56 persons per km². The total area is 42.68 km².-Geography:...
city in
Nara Prefectureis a prefecture in the Kansai region on Honshū Island, Japan. The capital is the city of Nara.- History :The present-day Nara Prefecture was created in 1887, making it independent of Osaka Prefecture....
(Yamatokōriyama is famous as a producing district of goldfish.) It is held on the third Saturday and Sunday in August every year. This year (2007), 13th championship was held and 1116 people participated in it. It has three sections:
- Children section: competition by children who are under 15
- General section: competition by people whose age is 15 and up
- Group section: competition for the sum number of the goldfish scooped by a team of three people
There are area trials and the first and second in every section can participate in National Championship. Extraordinarily in Nara trials, 60 people in child section, 80 people in ordinary section and 40 groups in group section can participate in it. The rule is detailed; size of goldfish, poi and pool, the number of umpire and so on. They compete with the number of goldfish scooped in three minutes. If the paper of
poi is completely broken, the game is over and the score is the number of goldfish scooped until then.
In the tenth championship (2004) a player scooped 61 goldfish in three minutes in the semifinal. (This is a new high and that comes to the average of one goldfish per three seconds.) However she was the very bottom in the final.
External links