The Roving Ronin Report

Tokyo Decadance that melting pot of subculture, pop culture, anime culture, and fetish culture recently threw a cosplay bash in Shinjuku with the theme of French Versailles. The decadence of the French nobility before they got their heads cut off in the Revolution was in full force mixed with modern Japanese cosplay naughtiness. I crashed the party as a revolting French revolutionary peasant reminding the partying decadent nobles of their eventual fate.  A bevy of Marie Antoinettes   I'd let her keep her head Revolutionary French Peasant partying with the decadent French Japanese Nobility I am 'ere to chop zee heads off of zee nobilitee, drink zeir wain, and make love to zeir wimon Versailles 3013? A little light Marquis de Sade for the evening Everything's coming up roses for guy on suspension hooks with roses stapled to his back ...

Nakizumo at first, second, and possibly third glance looks like some kind of baby psychological torture but the ritual is actually for the babies' health and wellbeing. Nakizumo is sumo wrestlers trying to get babies to cry. The first baby to cry wins.  The gyoji (referee) will goad the babies on by saying "nake! nake!" which means cry. The wrestlers will gently rock the babies and grimace at them. If that doesn't work then the judges come into the ring with devil masks to scare the little ones into crying. All of this seems like some bizarre baby torture but in old days when infant mortality was high a crying baby was seen as a healthy baby. Nakizumo goes back some 400 years and parents still bring their babies to have them scared for good luck and long life. Sensoji Temple in Asakusa, Tokyo Competing babies get a blessing first   You look ridiculous ...