Nihonmatsu Lantern Festival: 3,000 Lights on Drum Floats

Held over three days every year on the first Saturday, Sunday and Monday of October, the Nihonmatsu Lantern Festival is the grand annual rite of Nihonmatsu Shrine in Fukushima Prefecture. Seven neighbourhoods each pull out a taikodai, a wheeled float carrying a drum, and hang roughly 300 red paper lanterns on it. Together the seven floats carry around 3,000 lanterns through the old castle town. Records of the festival go back to 1664, and in 2011 the whole event was designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property by Fukushima Prefecture.

Three Thousand Lanterns on a Hilly Town

Each taikodai measures about 1.7 metres wide, 2.3 metres deep and 3.5 metres tall, and runs on four wheels. Once night falls the frame is covered with lanterns, and a bamboo pole around 7 metres long is raised from the roof with more lanterns hanging from it. The old town is full of slopes and tight corners, so every time a float tilts around a bend the rows of lanterns ripple and the whole wall of light seems to lurch. Because these are candle flames rather than bulbs, the glow wavers, and a gust of wind makes the float flicker as if it were breathing.

The Music Inside the Floats

The other star of the festival is the music played from inside the taikodai. The repertoire is unusually large, with pieces including Shagiri, Wakabayashi, Gion, Gionkuzushi, Kakubei, Ipponbayashi, Shoten and Okazaki, each used at a particular place or moment. The same piece is also played differently by each neighbourhood, and those differences have been guarded as a matter of local pride. In 1987 the music was designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Fukushima Prefecture in its own right. When several floats pass one another, the competing drums and flutes ring off the walls of the sloping streets.

A Festival Born in 1664

The origin lies with Niwa Mitsushige, first lord of the Nihonmatsu domain, who merged the Hachiman and Kumano shrines standing within Nihonmatsu Castle and moved them to the present site as guardian shrine of the domain. A record from 1664 describes the Takeda and Nezaki neighbourhoods agreeing to hold a rite, carrying a portable shrine and beating kagura drums through the streets, and that is regarded as the prototype of today's festival. For more than 350 years the seven districts of Motomachi, Kameyamachi, Takedamachi, Matsuokamachi, Nezakimachi, Wakamiyamachi and Kakunai have maintained their floats.

Tips for Visiting

The highlight is the eve festival on the first night, when the seven floats take fire from the sacred bonfire at Nihonmatsu Shrine to light their lanterns. On the second day the main festival begins with the portable shrine procession from around 8:30 in the morning, a very different, daylight face to the event. On the third day the floats split into two groups and parade together after dark. The town is hilly, so comfortable shoes are essential, and October evenings are cold enough to want a jacket. The floats turn in narrow lanes, so follow the marshals and never stand in the path of a moving taikodai.

Getting There

Nihonmatsu Shrine is about a 10 minute walk from Nihonmatsu Station on the JR Tohoku Main Line, and the participating neighbourhoods cluster near the station. The city designates five car parks, including the city hall, Kasumigajo Park and the Cultural Centre, but traffic restrictions apply throughout the festival and the closed sections shift as the floats move. Check the traffic map published by the Nihonmatsu City Tourism Federation before setting out.

Practical Information

• When: Every year on the first Saturday, Sunday and Monday of October
• Where: Nihonmatsu Shrine, 1-61 Motomachi, Nihonmatsu City, Fukushima
• Organiser: Nihonmatsu Lantern Festival Executive Committee, tel. 0243-55-5122
• Access: About 10 minutes on foot from Nihonmatsu Station (JR Tohoku Main Line)
• Parking: Five designated car parks including the city hall and Kasumigajo Park
• Designation: Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Fukushima Prefecture, designated 10 June 2011
• Official website: https://www.city.nihonmatsu.lg.jp/kankou/matsuri/cyochin/page000417.html

* Dates, details and prices are subject to change. Please check the official website before you go.

(Sources: Nihonmatsu City official website, Nihonmatsu City Tourism Federation official website)