Asuke Festival (Asuke Hachimangu Annual Festival)

About this event

Asuke Festival is the festival of Asuke Hachimangu Shrine, whose main hall is designated as an Important Cultural Property of Japan. In particular, the "Target Shooting Picture Plaque" dedicated in the 17th year of Keicho (1611) was also featured on the cover of the shooting competition program at the Tokyo Olympics. Held in a form close to the present day since before the mid-1700s, four floats from Nishimachi, Shinmachi, Honmachi, and Tamachi are pulled around the town. Although it previously lasted 5 days, it is now condensed to 2 days, with Saturday called the Shiga-sai (trial festival) and Sunday called the Hongaku-sai (main festival). On Saturday night, a portable shrine (mikoshi) is paraded through the town led by a lantern procession. During the main festival, floats enter the shrine grounds (Miyairi) to dedicate festival music (ohayashi), blank gunshots are fired by a gun corps within the precincts, and the mikoshi is transferred to Iwashimizu Hachiman Shrine. The highlight of the festival is the "Bonten Nage," where people throw decorative Bonten batons from the floats at one another, offering a view of both heroic vigor and fantastic scenes as they pray for the safety of their households. The best viewing times are around midday when the floats enter the shrine on Sunday, and from the evening onward.

Venue

Asuke Hachimangu Shrine

12-12 Asukecho Miyanoushiro, Toyota-shi, Aichi 444-2424