Gijisi Tug-of-War Festival – The Giant Rope Duel

The Gijisi Tug-of-War Festival is a four-day folk ritual held every April in the coastal village of Gijisi-ri. Two village teams, one from the shore and one from inland, compete by pulling on a rope up to 200 meters long and weighing as much as 40 tons.
Each team weaves its own half - a "male" rope and a "female" rope, twisted from fresh rice straw every year - and only on the festival days are the two halves tied together for the pull.
However, there is a catch: nobody really wants to win, because tradition says the losing side will get the better harvest.
The ritual was born from an old farmers' and fishermen's rite for a good harvest and safe fishing and is said to date back to the 16th century. It has been a Korean National Intangible Cultural Heritage since 1982 and was added to UNESCO's intangible heritage list in 2015.

Google Maps location of the main event activities can be found here.

Organizing this event? Found an error or something outdated? Tell us here.