Celebrating festivals is the living spirit and traditional culture of Japan, renewed and passed on.
#1. Handa Dashi Matsuri, Handa
Every spring, a dashi matsuri (float festival) takes place at Shinto shrines in ten districts of the city. Decorated with all kinds of special decorations and acrobatic automaton figures, the floats are pulled throughout the city with gusto and verve. A Handa dashi matsuri featuring a procession of 31 floats is held in the autumn once every five years, and the city comes alive with excitement.
#2. Handheld Fireworks, Toyohashi Toyokawa
Grasping large bamboo tubes filled with burning gunpowder, daring
men confront erupting columns of fire. This brave challenge is popular at festivals in Toyohashi and other places in Mikawa.
#3. Tenno Festival, Tsushima
For more than 500 years, all over town, residents have turned out to take part in this magnificent river festival. In the heat of summer, it is held to protect the people against seasonal diseases and catastrophes.
#4. Hana-matsuri Festival, Toei Shitara Toyone
At this festival you can see 700 years old performing arts. On a winter night, across the town, a red orange ogre wearing a large mask wields an axe against malevolent spirits to ward of evil.
#5. Present-Day Festival, World Cosplay Summit, Nippon Domannaka Festival, Nagoya
The World Cosplay Summit attracts much attention overseas. With dances made more lively by the clack of the clap sticks held by the dancers, it’s a new summer festival, a full-throttle celebration of 21st-century youth.
Source: Aichi-kanko
