Summer Returns to Kitakyushu with UNESCO-listed Floats Festival

Participants gather for the Tobata Gion Oyamagasa festival in Tobata Ward, Kitakyushu, on Saturday.
16:12 JST, July 23, 2023
KITAKYUSHU — The Tobata Gion Oyamagasa festival, a 220-year-old event inscribed on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list, was held in Tobata Ward, Kitakyushu, on Saturday, for the first time in four years due to cancellations during the COVID-19 crisis.
In the festival’s main event, the lantern-covered floats, called Pyramids of Light, were lined up in a procession, as spectators flocked to the venue filled with excitement.
Four 10-meter-tall floats decorated with 309 lanterns in a 12-tiered pyramid shape, along with four smaller floats carried by junior high school students, gathered in front of the Tobata ward office.
With gongs ringing, a group of men in traditional happi coats paraded around carrying the floats, shouting “Yoitosa, yoitosa!”
“Summer has returned to Tobata,” said a 55-year-old man carrying one of the bigger floats.
"Society" POPULAR ARTICLE
-
ANA, JAL Cancel Flights Due to Heavy Snowfall
-
Big Temperature Change Expected in Japan from February to March
-
ANA, JAL Cancel More Flights As Heavy Snowfall Continues in Japan
-
Heavy Snow Continues to Affect Shinkansen Services; Several Lines Delayed or Suspended (Update 1)
-
New Year Poetry Ceremony Held at Imperial Palace; Princess Aiko Makes Debut with Poem on ‘Dreams’
JN ACCESS RANKING