Follow us on

Home page » News » Festivals » The gorgeous Takayama festival in Japan

The gorgeous Takayama festival in Japan

02/10/2018 1.828 4.95/5 trong 19 rates

The gorgeous Takayama festival in Japan

The Takayama festival is held each spring and fall in Takayama, Gifu prefecture. With its fancy parade floats and traditional clothing, this festival is extremely captivating. It manages to transport the participants back to the Edo Period.

The Takayama Festival is ranked as one of Japan's three most beautiful festivals alongside Kyoto's Gion Matsuri and the Chichibu Yomatsuri. It is held twice a year in spring and autumn in the old town of Takayama and attracts large numbers of spectators.

What is the Takayama festival?
The Takayama Festival is a general term used for a festival held every spring and fall in Takayama city, Gifu Prefecture, which is located in Japan's Tokai region.

The Spring Festival (April 14-15) is the annual festival of the Hie Shrine in the southern half of Takayama's old town. Since the shrine is also known as Sanno-sama, the spring festival is also called Sanno Festival.

The Autumn Festival (October 9-10) is the annual festival of the Hachiman Shrine in the northern half of the old town, and the festival is also known as Hachiman Festival.
What to see in the Takayama festival
For Takayama Festival, matsuri-yatai festival floats, 12 in spring and 11 in autumn, are paraded through the streets and display their gorgeous appearance for spectators.
Several hundred people participate in the festival parade, dressed in traditional costumes. They walk around a designated area with performers of ohayashi (Japanese orchestra), garaku (ancient court music) and shishimai (lion dance).
Display of festival floats
From morning to late afternoon of both festival days, the festival floats (yatai) are displayed in the streets of Takayama. When the weather is bad, the floats remain in their storehouses, but the doors of the storehouses are opened so that visitors can still take a look at them.
Go-shinko
During both the spring and fall festivals, there are long lines with hundreds of people parading around town in processions called matsuri-gyoretsu and go-shinko (involves moving altars with deities from one place to another). These rows of people parade through the streets, some carrying o-mikoshi, some performing the lion dance called shishimai.
A Performance of Mechanical Dolls
There are 23 different yatai involved in both the spring and fall festivals combined, and among them, there are some that have karakuri dolls on them. Karakuri dolls are mechanical or clockwork dolls, also known as automatons. During the spring festival, these yatai are usually found close to the Takayama Festival Information Center, while during the fall festival, their performances take place within the Sakurayama Hachimangu shrine grounds.
The Evening Festival - Yomatsuri/Yoimatsuri
The Takayama Festival also includes events performed after the sun goes down. During the spring the evening festival is called Yomatsuri, while during the fall, it is referred to as Yoimatsuri. Both festivals have the yatai traveling around the town with a hundred lanterns lit on each of them. Please enjoy the magical scenery of the night which differs so much from the dynamic pushing and carrying of the yatai during the day.

Tips: The spring Yomatsuri starts from 18:30 on April 14th, while the fall Yoimatsuri occurs between 18:00-21:00 on October 9th.

The Takayama Festival, which is full of historical appeal, is held only for two days each spring and fall. Whether you see one or both of the days, this festival is a must-see, and, hopefully, one that you can fit your schedule around.

Source Internet

Japan Asia Travel Festival Autumn

The poster

Nhu Dang

is member from: 22/08/2018, has 540 posts

COMMENTS

You need login before posting a comment.

There are no comments for this post, why are you not the first?

Others posts