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Takayama Festival
What is Takayama Festival?
With the beautifully colored mountains as a backdrop, the floats parade through the charming streets...
The Takayama Festival, with its magnificent splendor, splendor, and works of art that exude a sense of mystery and melancholy, has earned it the reputation of being one of the "Three Most Beautiful Festivals of Japan," along with Kyoto's Gion Festival and Chichibu's Night Festival.
The "Takayama Festival" generally refers to the annual festival of Hie Shrine, held on April 14-15, and the annual festival of Sakurayama Hachiman Shrine, held on October 9-10. These two annual festivals, known as the "Sanno Festival in Spring" and the "Hachiman Festival in Autumn," have supported the hearts of the people of Hida since the Edo period, but since being designated an "Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property" by the government in 1952, the "Takayama Festival," along with the beauty of the floats (Important Tangible Folk Cultural Property) and the skill of the Karakuri puppets, have become established throughout the country as the "Takayama Festival."
On the days of Festival, the large procession parades takes place around the town, where you can see parishioners wearing traditional clothes. The Tokeiraku performers wear flat straw hats and broad-shouldered kamishimo robes, performing in cockfighting music. There are also parades of floats (12 in the spring, 11 in the fall) with a dedication of mechanical puppets (Sanbaso, Ishibashidai, and Ryujindai in the spring, Hoteidai in the fall), attracting a huge crowd of over 100,000 tourists.
The origin and history of the Takayama Festival
Today, the Takayama Festival is known as one of the three most beautiful festivals in Japan, featuring gorgeous festival floats. However, its origins are believed to date back to the time of Yorinao, the fourth head of the Kanamori family, during the Shoo era after 1652, as ancient documents state that "40 years before the 5th year of Genroku, a festival was held at Sanno Shrine once every three years." The festival at that time was not for parishioners as it is today, but was said to have been a festival for the feudal lord, and was a Shinto ritual to welcome the gods who came down from the mountains to the village and to pray for bountiful harvests, safety of the household, and good health.
The original form of the current floats is said to date back to the Shotoku and Kyoho eras of the Tenryo period, when they were simple single-story floats with tents set up.
The original form of the current Takayama Festival seems to have been created during the reign of six Kanamori generations. However the gorgeous, splendid and magnificent construction of the floats that adorn the grand festival today can be said to have been created over a long tradition dating back to the reign of the Kanamori family. It can be said that these works were created by the skills of Hida artisans such as carpenters, lacquerers and sculptors, supported by the cultural sophistication and exchanges with Edo and Kyoto, the economic power of the townspeople, and their competitive desire to make works that are more beautiful than those of other groups.
