Kochi’s Drinking Games

Okame-shaped bekuhai

   Kochi is famous not only for its refined sake and alcohol-loving citizens, but also for its merry drinking games! There are various so-called ozashiki asobi, but the most well-known are “Bekuhai”, “Kikunohana”, and “Hashiken”.

   Bekuhai are Kochi’s famous drinking cups that are specially designed so that they cannot be put down until they are empty! There are some with a hole in it, others with a cone or spiral shaped bottom that tips to its side.

   There are also ones shaped like tengu, hyottoko, and okame and a dice is rolled to see who drinks out of which cup along with a berobero song. The tengu cup can hold 3 to 4 shots of sake!

   Kikunohana is played by setting as many sake cups as people upside down on a tray with a kikunohana, or chrysanthemum, hidden under one. A song is sung while each person flips a cup over in turn until someone uncovers the chrysanthemum. Each flipped cup is filled with sake and the
finder must drink them all!

Hashiken Tournament

   Finally, Hashiken is a game where two people sit facing each other with three chopsticks each. The object is to guess the total number of chopsticks played. Both players hide the chopsticks behind their back and janken to decide who goes first. The loser says “Irasshai!” and thrusts 0 to 3 chopsticks forward, hidden under his forearm. The winner must guess “3” and put forward as many chopsticks she thinks she needs to make the total 3. The former then can guess either 1 or 5 and both turn their arm over.

   If both people are wrong, they switch roles and play again. The first to win 2 out of 3 games wins and the loser must take a drink. Think you have what it takes? You can try out your hashiken skills at the annual Hashiken Tournament in Kochi!

Taken from vol.34 PDF