Japanese Golf: JAJAUMA team wins ETOKAI 12 Animals Golf Tournament 6th time
The teams for the ETOKAI 12 Animals Golf Tournament are selected on the basis of the 12 zodiac signs. As per the Japanese astronomical system, Jaja means snake and Uma is a horse, which makes for the JAJAUMA team. This format was launched in India in 2014.
NEW DELHI: The winning streak continues for the Japanese zodiac signs-based golf team JAJAUMA (Snake and Horse). It once again emerged as the winner of the ETOKAI 12 Animals Golf Tournament 2022 played on November 26 (Sunday) in Gurugram. Led by IKI Hajime, this was the 6th time the JAJAUMA team won the tournament. However, it lost the game once only in 2001 when it had slipped to the third position in the ETOKAI 12 Animals Golf Tournament when the USHITORA team lifted the trophy. The DORABI team was adjudged the runners-up in the previous tournament.
A total of 144 Japanese golfers played in this tournament which was held at Golden Greens Golf Resorts. In the ETOKAI 2021 tournament also, Yuji Uchiyama of the JAJAUMA team emerged as the best player of the event with a gross score of 79 and net of 79.
The individual awards included 1st to 3rd place, ranking awards, longest drive contest awards, closest to the pin contest, short Shortest drive contest, birdie awards, eagle awards, and hole-in-one awards.
AJU Ryokan Japanese Hotels sponsored the event and announced to honour the player with a complimentary trip and golf in Thailand for the player hitting Hole-in-One. “None, however, was able to hit Hole-in-One in last so many years. But there were prizes for the Longest Drive, Closest-to-the-Pin, etc,. We announced to gift golf game at the Srinagar Golf Resort to the player with the best score,” said Prakash Yadav, Founder & Director, AJU Ryokan Japanese Hotels.
Previously, the JAJAUMA team has been the winner of the tournament since the year 2017 without a break as it had won 2018 and 2019 tournaments. The ETOKAI tournament could not be organized in 2020 and 2021 because of the Corona pandemic. It was declared the winner in the year 2014 also when ETOKAI 12 Animal Golf Tournament was launched in India for the first time.
The ETOKAI 12 Animals Golf Tournament 2021 event was originally planned for November 2021 but was postponed to February 27, 2022. This time, team Toriinu with 96 points, Inocyu with 84 points, and Youen with 16 points remained at the fourth, fifth, and sixth ranking.
As many as 144 Japanese golfers including eight women divided into six teams of 24 players each played in the ETOKAI 2021 tournament. Each team represented players with two zodiac signs. The Japanese zodiac known as Juunishi is divided into 12 signs with each sign representing a group of years.
The Team Selection Criteria:
ETOKAI 12 Animal Golf Tournament is played throughout the year in phases by six participating teams with each having 24 players.
The zodiac selects the team member’s sign they carry depending upon the year of their birth as per Japanese customs. The word ANIMAL is associated with the tournament basis of the Japanese zodiac system which is categorized on the basis of 12 animals. Jaja means snake and Uma represents horse as per the Japanese astronomical system.
So those who were born in the year 2002, 1990, 1978, 1966, 1954, 1942, 1930, 1918, 1906 belong to Jaja (snake) category, and others in the year 2001, 1989, 1977, 1965, 1953, 1941, 1929, 1917 are identified as Uma (hoarse).
