Saga: Floats Parade through City in Karatsu Kunchi Autumn Festival; Annual Parade Has 400-Year History

The Yomiuri Shimbun

2:00 JST, November 18, 2024

KARATSU, Saga — The annual Karatsu Kunchi autumn festival took place in the city of Karatsu, Saga Prefecture, in early November. Floats shaped like lions, sea bream, dragons and other animals paraded through the city.

Kunchi, which means autumn festival, is a word used in the northern Kyushu region. Nagasaki Kunchi in Nagasaki is another famous Kunchi festival.

Karatsu Kunchi, the grand autumn festival of Karatsu Shrine, has a 400-year history and is designated as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. Huge floats are said to have first been produced in the 19th century by a local engraver, based on what he saw at the Gion Festival in Kyoto.

Under clear autumn skies on Nov. 3, 14 floats lined up on the grounds of Waseda Saga Junior and Senior High School, which serves as the site for Otabisho, or the festival’s sacred area of rest. Organizers said about 250,000 people visited the site.

After parading through the city escorting a mikoshi portable shrine, which carries the spirit of the deity, the floats proceeded to the sand-covered Otabisho. Then, people frantically pulled the floats and stuck them in the sand while chanting energetically to the music of flutes and drums and placed them to their designated positions.

Onlookers loudly applauded as they finished pulling the floats.