Ohnominami Middle School

The school festival, field day, and other big days students look forward to

Special Events

The Culture Festival and the Athletics Festival are just two of the many special events in the Ohnominami school calendar. Here you can also find out where the students went and what they got up to on their annual study trips.

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Ohnominami Festival

Every year Ohnominami Middle School holds its Ohnominami Festival, made up of a Cultural Festival and a Sports Festival. This is the most important event for Ohnominami and the students enjoy it very much. Here are some of the events that make up the festival.


Culture Festival

Emi Akaike, Second-Year Class 6

The school's brass band club performing a concert.
This year the Culture Festival took place on October 7. For the Culture Festival, each class chooses to perform either a play or a puppet show. My class, class 2-6, chose to perform a play. We started work on the plot around July. It was based on a picture storybook called The Kind Devil. When the script was finished we decided on the casting, made the stage props, chose the music, and so on, through the various stages necessary. And we rehearsed the play any number of times.

I was in charge of props. Making the pretty flowers we needed caused me many headaches. But since my classmates were trying so hard I had to do my best, too. The members of the preparatory committee were also working feverishly, and this kind of dedication and whole-hearted effort is contagious.

For the three months until the day of the performance the whole class was determined to make a success of the play. It was a pleasure to see the class so united.

Finally, the day of the performance. Everybody's heart was thumping. But it was a great success. The acting was skilful, the costumes imaginative. The scenery and props also turned out brilliantly. I'm sure it was because the whole class made a tremendous effort as a team that we were able to create a top class play.

Something else that must not be overlooked is the exhibits. Last year, partly because we took part in an exchange with Nepal, one of the classes exhibited Nepalese costumes that they had made. Among other exhibits there were handicrafts made during home economics lessons and the uniforms of various clubs of the school. Organizing the exhibits section of the festival was also a difficult job, but we were happy because a lot of people came and enjoyed the exhibits.


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Sports Festival

Miki Sekiguchi, Second-Year Class 3

Second-year students dancing in unison.
The Sports Festival took place on October 8. It was even livelier than the Culture Festival. Each class was assigned to one of three teams--Red, Blue, and White--which took part in races (sprint and relay), tug-of-war, and various other competitions. The winning team was decided by the total number of points scored. My class, second year class 5, was in the White team. Of course, all the teams did their very best to win.

There were also events that had nothing to do with scoring points and where the participants didn't care whether they won or lost. One was the relay race among some of the after-school clubs, with cheerleaders leading the supporters' yells. Another was a performance of dancing.

Personally, I enjoy the third year students' "knights on horseback" battles and the clubs' relay race. The mounted battles are so exciting, with both girls and boys looking very brave. The relay race is interesting because of the different uniforms that the club members wear. The various performances and demonstrations, such as the guitar club's concert and the judo club's demonstration of throws, were great fun too.

Beating the drum in time with a traditional Hokkaido folk song.
As soon as an event is over, the points gained are added to the running scores of the teams. The events in which higher scores can be gained take place in the second half of the festival, so naturally the excitement mounts as times passes, the shouts of the supporters gradually get louder, and the pressure on the competitors grows.

The final scores of each team are announced at the end of the Festival. By this time people have a fair idea of the result. Incidentally, this year's winner was the red team. A pity for us, but we had the satisfaction of knowing that we had done our very best in the competition.


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