Festival featuring Takuya Kimura swamped with applications

Courtesy of the Gifu Nobunaga Matsuri festival’s executive committee
Poster for the Gifu Nobunaga Matsuri festival

Gifu City announced Tuesday that the number of those applying to watch the Gifu Nobunaga Matsuri festival, which will feature actor Takuya Kimura, totaled 966,555, far exceeding the 15,000 ticket limit.

The festival, commemorating the famous 16th-century warload Oda Nobunaga, will be held on Nov. 6.

The city will conduct a lottery and notify the applicants via email by the end of October as to whether they have been selected.

During the festival, Kimura will play the role of Nobunaga, and Hideaki Ito, an actor originally from the city, will play a Nobunaga vassal as they participate in a cavalry parade. A public talk featuring Kimura and Ito is also scheduled to be held on Nov. 6. The city said that it has received a total of 120,939 applications for the events, 151 times the capacity.