Hoko Festival (Nagahama Shusse Festival)

About this event

Held annually in Nagahama City, Shiga Prefecture, the Hoko Festival (Nagahama Shusse Festival) is a community-wide celebration honoring Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who founded the town as the lord of Nagahama Castle and eventually became the ruler of Japan. Expressing the town's enduring reverence and gratitude toward Lord Hideyoshi, this celebration began in 1983 (Showa 58) to commemorate the reconstruction of Nagahama Castle. The greatest highlight of the festival is the warrior procession reenacting the triumphal return from the Battle of Shizugatake. Led by Lord Hideyoshi, heroic warriors representing the 'Seven Spears of Shizugatake,' soldiers clad in armor and helmets, and adorable children in costume (chigo) parade through the streets of Nagahama, offering a brilliant and valiant spectacle as if traveling back in time to the Sengoku period. The procession departs from Hokoku Shrine around noon, marches to Nagahama Hachimangu Shrine, and returns to Hokoku Shrine. Rice cake scattering (mochimaki) also takes place along the route and at the end of the procession. The castle town of Nagahama built by Hideyoshi marks where the first steps were taken toward becoming a commercial city, still retaining its historic charm today. Hokoku Shrine enshrines Ebisu alongside Lord Hideyoshi, drawing lively crowds every year.

Venue

Hokoku Shrine

6-37 Minamigofukucho, Nagahama, Shiga 526-0058