19-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Mainichi
Hakata Gion Yamakasa festival closes with 1-ton floats dashing through central Fukuoka
FUKUOKA -- This year's Hakata Gion Yamakasa festival recently came to a close after 15 days of festivities, during which men dressed in traditional "happi" coats and loincloths dashed through streets of this southwestern Japan city carrying floats each weighing around 1 metric ton.
The summer tradition in Fukuoka's Hakata Ward reached its climax early on July 15 with the "Oiyama" finale. Spectators erupted in cheers as participating men ran through the dawn streets carrying the massive floats with enthusiastic shouts of "oisa, oisa."
The sound of a large drum resonated through Kushida Shrine in Hakata Ward at 4:59 a.m., and the Higashi Nagare group charged into the shrine grounds with a shout of "Yaa!" carrying this year's first float. Applause and cheers rose from the box seats as the float completed a ritual circling of a flag on the grounds, and participants chanted a celebration song. Six other groups and their floats and the eighth float, Kamikawabata Dori -- known as a "running decorative float" -- entered Kushida Shrine at five-minute intervals. Each team then raced toward a goal about 5 kilometers away in the same ward.
Ryuji Umezu, 60, who was in charge of the Higashi Nagare float team's general affairs, expressed his relief, saying, "There was pressure, but we approached the event as we do every year. I'm relieved that we were able to make the offering safely. I want to switch gears and work hard to make next year's Yamakasa even better."
A 65-year-old Buddhist priest visiting for the first time from Iga, Mie Prefecture, shared his excitement, saying, "I've never seen such a powerful festival. I could feel the spirit of it."
