UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage: Kakunodate’s Yama Float Festival　

Every year from September 7 to 9, a parade of colorful floats winds through the historic streets of Kakunodate toward Shinmeisha Shrine and Jōjuin Yakushidō Temple. Unlike most parades, however, the route each float takes is decided by the people pulling it, often during the event itself. Over the three days of the festival, the floats travel all around the town and must make their way through its narrow streets. If two floats meet head-on, the two parties must negotiate to decide who has the right of way. If they fail to reach an agreement, the floats are then rammed against each other until one side gives way and both groups depart to their next destinations.

The eighteen neighborhood associations that take part in the festival each have their own float, which they decorate with elaborate, life-sized dolls of samurai and Kabuki actors. Each doll weighs about 30 kilograms. The dolls are arranged on a “mountain” made with black cloth in the middle of each float. On a wooden platform at the front of the float, young dancers perform “hand-dancing” (teodori) to traditional folk music played on drums, gongs, flutes, and shamisen by a small ensemble sitting underneath the “mountain.