In Japan, summer is the season of fireworks, freedom and fun. Schools are out for summer vacation, scorching cloudless weather prevails, and festivals across the country provide numerous occasions to beat and celebrate the heat. Here are 10 of the best festivals of August:
The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony
“Seventy-one years ago, on a bright cloudless morning, death fell from the sky and the world was changed.
A flash of light and a wall of fire destroyed a city and demonstrated that mankind possessed the means to destroy itself.” - President Barack Obama, May 27th 2016
While it’s not a festive occasion, the marking of the August 6th atomic bombing of Hiroshima is an event of indescribable power. At 8:15am, the exact moment the atomic bomb detonated, the Memorial Park’s Peace Bell is rung and a minute of silence is observed. Speeches are then made by the Mayor of Hiroshima, Japan’s Prime Minister and a number of other foreign and domestic dignitaries. UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon was the key speaker in 2010. Once darkness falls the Peace Message Lantern Floating Ceremony, the most solemn and visual part of the whole event, gets started. Anyone in attendance is invited to write a peace message on a colourful paper lantern, set it afloat on the Motoyasu River (just across from the Atomic Bomb Dome), and reflect upon the events of August 6th 1945 and the messages put forward during the Peace Ceremony.
“Today, one fire burns, here in this Peace Park. That is the Flame of Peace, a flame that will remain lit until nuclear weapons are no more… Let us work for that day, in our lifetime, in the lifetimes of the survivors… let us put out the last fire of Hiroshima.” – UN Secretary Ban Ki Moon, August 6th 2010.
Miyajima Water Fireworks Festival
A few days after the humble Peace Memorial Ceremony (August 11th in 2016), Hiroshima’s scenic Miyajima Island hosts one of the most spectacular fireworks displays in the entire country. From 7:40pm-8:40pm around 5,000 fireworks shells are launched from the ocean directly behind Itsukushima Shrine and its floating torii gate. Itsukushima and its torii are already accepted as one of Japan’s 3 greatest views. Enhancements to the grandeur of the location are hard to imagine, but this fireworks festival achieves it with spectacular ease.
Fukagawa Hachiman Matsuri
One of the most fun ways to beat the summer heat is to have a water fight so that’s what the Fukagawa Hachiman Shrine of Tokyo’s Tomioka neighborhood does. The Fukagawa Hachiman Matsuri, also known as the Mizu Kake (water throwing) Matsuri, sees 54 portable mikoshi shrine floats paraded through the neighborhood streets while onlookers throw buckets of water on the float bearers and parade participants. The local fire department is also on hand to drench everyone with their firehoses. The fun of drenching other people, and getting drenched oneself, serves the dual purpose of refreshing the mikoshi bearers (who are after all carrying and tossing around a 2,500kg shrine float) and the gods in residence within the mikoshi. It is believed that the gods enjoy the shower. In 2016 the Fukagawa Hachiman Matsuri will take place on August 14th and 15th. Every 3 years the festival is super-sized and held for 5 days straight with the number of mikoshi floats upped to 150 or more as the of other neighborhoods join in the festival. The next super-sized festival is in 2017.
Daimonji Okuribi
The Daimonji Okuribi is an event where giant bonfires in the shape of Chinese kanji characters, and in particular the character “dai” (大) meaning big, are set on mountainsides in Kyoto, Nara and Saga. There are 4 such fire kanji in Kyoto (one near the Kinkakuji Golden Pavilion and three in the Higashiyama District), 2 in Saga and one in Nara. Kyoto and Saga’s Daimonji events both take place on August 15th and Nara’s Daimonji takes place on August 16th. Nara’s Daimonji bonfire is the largest of the fire kanji with the top horizontal stroke having a length of 109 meters, and the left and right strokes being 164 meters and a 128 meters respectively. There are several stories about the origins of this festival, but as it occurs at the end of the Bon holiday period, when the spirits of the dead return home to visit friends and family, it is thought that it is a sending off for the souls of departed ancestors.
Nebuta
Nebuta are enormous festival floats made of colourful Japanese washi paper stretched over a bamboo and wire frame. They often depict historical figures, Japanese gods and mythical creatures, all illuminated from within by hundreds of lights. They are between 5m~9m tall, can weigh up to 4 tons and take many months to construct.
It should come as no surprise then that the magnificent Nebuta Matsuri in Aomori City is considered to be one of Japan's best festivals, and one of the 3 great festivals of the Tohoku region (the others being the Sendai Tanabata and the Akita Kanto Matsuri). The Nebuta Matsuri takes place from August 2nd-7th every year and attracts an average of 3 million people who come not only to witness the spectacle but to join in the fun. Festival goers of all ages and nationalities are invited to participate in pulling the nebuta and join in the chorus of “Rassera! Rassera!” chants. A traditional "haneto" festival robe is required for participation in the Nebuta Matsuri, and they can be purchased or rented on or near the festival grounds. On August 6th a competition to decide which nebuta are the most spectacular of the festival is held, and on the final night of the festival (August 7th) the winning nebuta are placed on boats and paraded around Aomori Harbour.
Awa Odori Matsuri
“The dancers are fools / The watchers are fools / Both are equally fools so…/ Why not dance?”
Such is the meaning of the song sung during Japan’s largest dance festival the Awa Odori Matsuri in Tokushima City on Shikoku Island. The Awa Odori grew out of Japan’s Obon “Festival of the Dead” traditions and is put on to welcome the souls of the departed back to the world of the living. The festival, in its present form, is believed to date back to a drunken celebration put on by the feudal lord of Tokushima (known then as Awa Province) to mark the opening of Tokushima Castle. The Awa Odori is attended by an average of 1.3 million people each year and features teams of colourfully clad dancers performing and parading their own unique choreographed dances through the streets of Tokushima City. The festival takes place from the 12th to the 15th of August every year.
Kochi Yosakoi Matsuri
Not to be outdone by its neighbor to the east, the city of Kochi, in Shikoku’s Kochi Prefecture, created its own great dance festival, the Kochi Yosakoi Matsuri, in 1954. Held on the 10th and 11th of August every year, the Yosakoi Matsuri features numerous professional and amateur Yosakoi dance teams (with up to 150 members per team) who create and perform unique dance routines that utilize naruko clackers (a Japanese version of castanets). The teams are also allowed to choreograph their dances to any original or popular songs so long as the traditional “Yosakoi Bushi" folk song is featured somewhere in their routine. The freedom allowed by Yosakoi Festival rules has given birth to some truly spectacular performances. Although this “Carnival” has spread throughout Japan and to other parts of the world, with upward of 10,000 dancers performing in the Kochi Yosakoi Matsuri every year, there can be no substitute for the original event.
Sendai Tanabata
The Tanabata Star Festival celebrates the once a year meeting between Orihime, the Goddess of Weaving, and Hikoboshi the God of Cow Herding. In most of Japan the festival is held on or around the 7th of July, because “Tanabata” means 7th night of the 7th moon, and sees the shopping arcades and business districts of many cities decorated with colorful kusudama paper balls, paper streamers and bamboo “wish trees” festooned with multi-colored tanzaku “wish papers.” The city of Sendai in Miyagi Prefecture holds its Tanabata Festival from the 6th to the 8th of August to correspond with the Chinese lunar calendar’s original date and distinguishes itself from other Tanabata celebrations with the size, grandeur and number of decorations put up throughout the city. Live music and dance performances and festival food stalls accompany all the decorations and a fireworks display is held the night before the start of the Tanabata Festival on August 5th. All these things combine to make the Sendai Tanabata Festival one of the 3 great festivals of Japan’s Tohoku region.
Akita Kanto Matsuri
The Kanto Matsuri in Akita Prefecture’s eponymous capital city is a harvest festival held from the 3rd to the 7th of August every year. It is one of the Tohoku regions 3 great festivals, along with the Aomori Nebuta Matsuri and the Sendai Tanabata, featuring a night parade in which up to 250 “kanto” lantern poles are balanced on the palms, shoulders, lower backs, and foreheads of performers. The largest kantos are 12 meters tall, weigh 50kg and are hung with up to 46 candle-lit paper lanterns. The event lasts about 90 minutes the last 15-minutes of which are set aside for festival goers to meet the kanto bearers and try their hand at balancing a kanto.
Omagari National Fireworks Competition
Ever heard of a fireworks show that starts in the daylight? The Omagari National Fireworks Competition, on the banks of the Omono River in the town of Omagari in Akita Prefecture, is the battle ground for Japan’s highest level fireworks manufacturers to duke it out for the title of National Fireworks Champion and the esteemed “Prime Minister Prize.” Many of the shells used are so massive and specialized that they can be seen long before darkness. The Omagari National Fireworks Competition takes place on the 4th Saturday of August every year, August 27th in 2016, and is expected to draw a crowd of 760,000 people this year! The competition’s daytime display begins at 5:30pm and is followed by the nighttime display that runs from 6:50pm to 9:30pm.
Wherever you are in Japan this summer, "top 10" or not, there is sure to be a festival happening somewhere nearby. Why not join in?
Photo credits:
Photos under the 3.0 Creative Commons Attribution License
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode
“Gozan-no-okuribi Daimonji (Letter 大) Kyoto, Japan,” created by J_o, Wikipedia Creative Commons, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/Gozanokuribi_Daimonji2.jpg
2 Nebuta floats and crowd before nightfall, “663highland,” Wikipedia Creative Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Asamushi_Onsen_Nebuta_Matsuri_Aomori_Japan11n.jpg
Public Domain Photos
Tokyo Koenji Awa Odori from Above, Flickr user Manatee, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Koenj_awaodori.jpg
Sendai Tanabata Festival Bamboo and Decorations, created by Haseyu, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Sendai_Tanabata_Festival.JPG
Photos under 2.0 Creative Commons Generic Attribution License
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode
Toronagashi Lanters and Hiroshima A-bomb Dome, “The Official CTBTO Photostream,” Flickr and Wikipedia Creative Commons, https://www.flickr.com/photos/40662521@N07/7746128740
“Hiroshima Lantern Festival,” Richard Riley, Wikipedia and Flickr Creative Commons, https://www.flickr.com/photos/rileyroxx/6035038030/
“花火 (Fireworks at Torii Gate, Itsukushima Jinja Shrine, Japan),” Flickr User miquitos, https://www.flickr.com/photos/12333120@N00/3679124293
Bucket thrown water, festival goers and mikoshi at Fukagawa Hachiman Festival, created by 江戸村のとくぞう, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/富岡八幡宮ー１.JPG
Awa Odori Dancers portrait, created by Rosini, Wikipedia Creative Commons, https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkas:Awa-odori_2008_Tokushima_03.jpg
Lady Yosakoi Dancer with Lanterns, created by 工房やまもも, wikipedia Creative Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Yosakoi_Performers_at_Kochi_Yosakoi_Matsuri_2008_26.jpg
Yosakoi Dancers in White, Red and Blue, created by 工房やまもも, Wikipedia Creative Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Yosakoi_Performers_at_Kochi_Yosakoi_Matsuri_2005_46.jpg
Akita Kanto Matsuri Night Parade of Kantos, created by yisris, Flickr Creative Commons, https://www.flickr.com/photos/yisris/9427073731
Photos under Creative Commons 4.0 attribution license
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode
Water Nearly Obscuring the Scene of the Fukagawa Hachiman Festival, created by 江戸村のとくぞう, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/Tomioka_hachimangu7.jpg
Omagari Japan National Fireworks Competition Massive Display, Kansei, Wikipedia Creative Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:大会提供花火（2014）.JPG
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