NewsletterVol. 21. JUNE 2013

CONTENTS:Hakata Dontaku 2013・Heroes appear after midnight! ・Popularity of Rose water in Iran・山笠・九州大学大橋キャンパス留学生会・ ISRSC NEWSwriter: Aril Aditian, Indonesia

HAKATA DONTAKU 2013

Kyushu University Foreign Students Association (KUFSA) participatedin Hakata Dontaku on 3rd May 2013. Hakata Dontaku is the biggest
festival in Fukuoka which millions of people attend every year. Kyushu
University also takes part in this majestic event to prove its standing as
one of the biggest universities in western Japan.
Many locals and foreigners are surprised to ﬁnd out that Hakata Dontaku Festival has a history that reaches back more than 830 years. Itdates all the way back to 1179, when the merchants of Hakata organized a New Year’s parade, Matsubayashi, in honor of their feudal lord.
These traditional origins can still be seen every May 3 in the Dontaku
Matsubayashi Parade, a colorful procession led by three gods of fortune
riding on horseback: Fukurokuju (god of long life), Ebisu (god of business) and Daikoku (god of wealth). They’re accompanied by a group ofdancing children, who sing the special festival chant ‘iitate.’ In their wake
follow 120 groups of about 12,000 local people in traditional dress, allperforming the matsubayashi custom of greeting each other throughsong and dance. This procession has remained unchanged since theMiddle Ages and has been designated an Intangible Cultural Property
by Fukuoka Prefecture.
Raising ﬂags of Kyushu University soared in the streets of NakasuKawabata area when this festival was held. Many elements of Kyushu
University from the students who carry the portable shrine, cheerleader group, foreign students, and Kyushu University discipline committee took part in the Festival. This lively group of students clapped their
shamoji and dance with the rhythm of Japan traditional folk songs. Thisyear Kyushu University was represented by nine colors that the students
wore; these colors represented the rainbow. Of all the Japanese festivals
held during the so-called Golden Week, the Hakata Dontaku boasts thegreatest number of spectators, with some two million people turning out
every year. This year Hakata Dontaku festival was fantastic, especiallyfor the foreign students, who rarely has the opportunity to join in suchparade. If you have not got the chance to join us in this year, then makesure you join us next year.

From The Depth of Our Heart….
A building without a solid support will deﬁnitely crumble and an association without sponsors and supporters
will deﬁnitely achieve little or nothing. We at Kyushu University Foreign Students Association are privileged to haveour sponsors and supporters to lean on in carrying out our functions. In a view to having a successful ﬁnancial
year, the KUFSA’s annual Sponsors meeting on May 12th, 2013 was held to review the past year and introduce theplans for the current year.
Out of your busy schedules we appreciate the fact that you included us in your time and that you graced the occasion with your presence. Your constant support is always appreciated. Just like the song before the vote of thanks
on the day of the sponsors meeting, from the depth of our heart we want to say thank you.During the course of thedischarge of our duties, should we stumble/fumble and make errors do ﬁnd it in your heart to forgive our mistakes
and correct us. There is a Japanese adage that says: koubou mo fude no ayamachi...Arigatou Gozaimasu
PAGE 2Gabriel Adeyemi Francis, President KUFSA

Popularity of Rose water in Iran
Iranwriter: Elnaz Nakahei, IranSince thousands of years ago, a special kind of Rose called‘Gol-e Mohammadi’ is grown in some towns in Iran. Its liquid
extract, called GOLAB, has a deep history and role in Iranian’slife and culture.
Every year in the month of May, in those towns, the ceremonyof ‘Picking and extracting of the Roses’ is held and about 2 millions of travelers watch the ceremony. The traditional methodof extracting of rose water and originally the rose itself are not
only widely used in Iran but also exported to other countries.
Common customs of Iranian in using Mohammadi ﬂower:
・High quantity of GOLAB is used to ﬂavor holy shrines andmosques.
・GOLAB is sprayed by host person on
guest’s hands and cloth in praying, funeral and other ceremonies, since it
gives the feeling of relief.
・GOLAB is an essential
ingredient in Iranian dessert
cuisine. The dried petals
are also used to decorate
sweets and yogurt.
・GOLAB is added totea and ice cream, and isused to make GOLAB drink
in hot weather.
・It is used for curing
headache,stomachacheandetc.
Gol-e Mohammadi flower

Once you enter grad school, it’s almost
impossible to ﬁnd a date that you can go on
vacation with all your friends! It happened toﬁve of us. We always wanted to go on a shorttrip together but always some of us werebusy. Finally, after 3 years, we succeeded
to plan something in Golden week. We reserved a camp site and rent a car much inadvance.
The plan was to go to Mt. Aso, and fromthere to Miyazaki prefecture. What we didn’t
take into consideration was the trafﬁc jam onGolden week. We reached so late to Mt. Aso,and as a result, it was too late when we wereon our way to Miyazaki. It was almost 10 pm
when all of a sudden in the dark road, wesaw a Japanese sign saying the road is underconstruction, but everything looked normal.
We decided to ignore the sign, because theroad we’ve been following for hours had nojunctions and if it was blocked there shouldhave been a sign at the beginning of it. Aftera while of driving, the signs of constructionsin progress started to show up, no one wasa round and it was so dark. We started tofeel worried, some naughty friends started totalk about scary movies that happen in suchenvironment. Finally we reached to the point
where the road was completely blocked andto add to the tension, a car light approachedfrom behind!
It was almost midnight when we ﬁnallyfound another camp nearby. After telling ourstory, they agreed to give us a place with thesame price as the other camp. It was 2500
yen per person. When we wanted to give him
the money he said no, only 2500 yen for allof you! Our ﬁrst reaction was a long えええ!
But he was serious. The next morning we noticed how beautiful the place is. There was awaterfall just 10 minutes away. We had themost lovely vacation and came back homewith lots of good memories.

writer: Maryam E. Rezagah, IranHEROES
appear after midnight!

えええ！

山笠
writer:鈴木陽洋、日本

来月7月9日から15日まで博多では博多祇園山笠が行われます。どんたくと並ぶこのお祭り、見に行った事がある人もいると思います。皆さんはどんなイメージがあるでしょうか。
「ふんどし、恥ずかしくないのかな？」「迫力があるな」「ミステリアスな日本の文化だな」いろんなイメージがありますが実際に参加してみるとどうなんだろう？という事で今回は山笠について紹介します！
僕は3年前から山笠に参加しています。友人に誘われ最初は軽い気持ちで参加していました。最初に僕が思った事は「なんでこんな真剣なんだろう？」でした。お祭り＝楽しいもの、と認識していた僕は目の前で上の立場にいるおじさん達から怒られまくっている先輩達をみて何が楽しくてこんなに説教されているんだろうと思ってしまいました。なので正直山笠に参加
しだして最初の頃は毎月あるミーティングと飲み会への参加が憂鬱で仕方がありませんでした。
でも山笠を始めて一年以上が過ぎたある日、ふと「山笠は楽しいよ！」と学校の友達に話している自分に気づきました。時間がたち山笠の仲間と仲良くなっていく中で、最初は怒ってばっかりだと思っていたおじさん達が実はかなりおちゃめで楽しい人達だった事、僕達の事を真剣に考えてくれた上で怒ってくれていた事に気づいたんです。それと皆で目標に向かって一生懸命頑張った後にお酒を飲みながら過ごす時間が楽しいです。
もちろんお祭りの期間中(7月9日～15日)が一番楽しいです。アドレナリン全開ですぐに終わってしまいますが。特に今年は学生として参加する最後の山笠なので万全の準備をして臨みます！！それと僕は来年の三月で就職のため福岡を離れてしまいますが、必ず福岡に戻ってきてずっと山笠に参加したいと思います。
最後に今年の山笠のお勧めを紹介します。
7月13日（土曜）集団山見せ 15:30～ 明治通りを博多から天神まで山が動きます！どんたくと同じコースを動くので観光にもってこいです！
7月14日（日曜）流舁（ながれがき）16:00～ 各流がそれぞれ流区域を舁きまわります。夕方に博多の街を散策すると「舁き山笠」と出会えるかも！この日はあまりお客さんも少ないので、落ち着いて見学できますよ！
7月15日（月曜、祝日）追い山笠

4:59～フィナーレです！

今年は祝日なのでかなりお客さんも多いはず。祭りの熱気を味わいたい人は見るべし！
PAGE 4

参加者の声Campusview

九州大学大橋キャンパス留学生会
writer:リシキョク

The traditional Japanese
dancing was so good.
(Chiara Maffe, Italy)
この歓迎会を通して出会った人とこれからも親睦を深めていこうと思う。
（王 涛 中国）

九州大学大橋キャンパス留学生会では、九州大学芸術工学部・府に入学した留学生が、日本や福岡での生活をスタートするにあたって、緊張が少しでも緩和され、一日も早く九州大学での学生生活に馴染めるようにと、毎学期、新入留学生歓迎会を主催しています。
また、その他にも留学生たちが健全な環境を整え、日々の生活や勉強、そして遊びも充実することができるようにと、芸工祭での出店や新年会などのイベントも積極的に主催しています。
2013年5月17日に行った、今学期の新入生歓迎会では、外国人留学生、日本人学生、教職員合わせて約80名の参加者があり、温かい雰囲気の中、お互いに親交を深めることができました。
まず初めに、サポーター（日本人学生）の大島さんが書道を披露。日本伝統文化の魅力を伝えてくれました。続いて、留学生担当教員の松隈先生、外国人留学生・研究者サポートセンターの小畠係長、松尾さんからのご挨拶があり、学生係の桶田係長の「乾杯！
」で歓迎会がスタートしました。

時間が足りないと思うほど、あっという間の歓迎会だった。
（ウ シカン 中国）
We had a nice time because
we all could participate in thegame（Yeseul Park, Korea）

4

先輩留学生たちは、中国民族楽器の演奏（周 渓陽さん）、太極拳（張蒙さん、於豊さん（他の地区から参加））とバイオリンの演奏（徐 伊米さん）などのパフォーマンスを披露し、新入生に歓迎の意を伝えました。また、ビンゴゲーム、椅子取りゲームを行った
後、サポーター（日本人学生）の方たちから、福岡県に伝わる伝統民謡の「炭坑節」の振り付けを教わり、全員が輪になって踊り、大いに盛り上がる交流の場となりました。

PAGE 5

Information from the International
Student and Researcher Support Center
外国人留学生・研究者サポートセンターからのお知らせ
新入留学生サポートチームを募集します！
Recruitment for the International Student Support Team!
２０１３年１０月に入学する留学生のサポートチームを大募集！！留学生サポートチームは、九州大学に新たに入学する留学生の皆さんが、スムーズに福岡での生活をスタートできるように、九州大学の日本人学生や留学生により、学部・学府ごとに編成されたチームです。
We are now looking for the support team to help and assist new international students
coming from October, 2013. Every school/graduate school has an international support
team which consists of Kyushu University Japanese students and international students
who have already stayed in Fukuoka, and they assist new international students to starttheir new life in Fukuoka smoothly.
留学生のみなさんからの応募をお待ちしています！詳しくはサポートセンターウェブサイトをチェック！！
We hope you all apply and join us! Please check more information at Support Centerwebsite!!
e http://www.isc.kyushu-u.ac.jp/supportcenter/supporter

KUFSA Newsletter Editorial Committee
Adeyemi Francis Gabriel, Laura Sanchez Castillo, Loren Montefalcon Tusara, Aril Aditian, Adiguna Bahari, Suzuki
Haruhiro. Design: Jairo Agustin Reyes Plata@ KUFSAinfo@gmail.com

With You Always, KUFSA. Please feel free to contact us at

e http://www.isc.kyushu-u.ac.jp/kufsa/

http://www.facebook.com/KUFSA