Nagahama Hikiyama Festival 

Designated by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage, Shiga Prefecture’s Nagahama Hikiyama Festival is one of the three great Japanese festivals featuring floats. With dazzling performances and elaborately decorated floats, this festival is a must-see if you’re in the Kansai region.

Nagahama Hikiyama Festival

Photo by: PIXTA/ Yama Local craftsmen fashioned beautiful floats and paraded them around Nagahama’s Hachimangu Shrine.

According to local legend, the town of Nagahama held a celebration in honor of Lord Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s newborn son. Local craftsmen fashioned beautiful floats (hikiyama) and paraded them around Nagahama’s Hachimangu Shrine. Throughout the Edo period, the town tried to reproduce the festive energy of the original celebration.

For over a millennium, Nagahama Hachimangu Shrine has enshrined Hachiman, the deity often associated with war and good fortune. The complex includes the main hall and Kora Shrine which honors the legendary Takenouchi no Sukune. Across a small stone bridge, you’ll find a shrine for Benzaiten, a water goddess. The site has long been the starting point of the festival.

Festival Highlights

The biggest attraction of the festival is the kodomo kabuki performances. Kabuki is a form of traditional Japanese theater that developed in the 17th century. Featuring an all-male cast and who sing, dance and dramatically act in intricate costumes, kabuki too has been designated as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. Although you may already be familiar with kabuki, the shows at Nagahama Hikiyama Festival offer a truly unique experience that showcases the acting prowess of young boys. Chosen by lottery every year, the children aged five to 12 perform atop the floats in full costume. Catch a show after sunset on the 13th, the morning of the 14th and at scheduled times on the 15th and 16th.

Beyond the kabuki shows, there’s plenty to enjoy during the festival. On the 12th, portable shrines containing deified spirits will be carried from Nagahama Hachimangu Shrine to an otabisho, a designated location for the shrines to rest for the remainder of the festival. On the 15th, a procession of swordsmen and sumo wrestlers trace a similar path as the portable shrines. The festival closes where it began at Nagahama Hachimangu Shrine on the 17th.

Nagahama Hikiyama Museum

Photo by: WikiCommons/ 663highland Get up close and personal with historical artifacts

Learn about the event at the Nagahama Hikiyama Museum. Opened in 2000, the museum educates visitors about the festival and its place in Nagahama’s history. You’ll be able to get up close and personal with historical artifacts used in the festival over the centuries, including past and present floats, clothing and decorations.