Awa Kokushi Festival: Yawatanmachi

About this event

Boasting over a thousand years of tradition, the largest festival in the Awa region, "Awa Kokushi Festival Yawatanmachi," is an annual grand festival held at Tsurugaya Hachimangu Shrine in Hojo, Tateyama City. This festival is said to trace its roots back to the "Kokushi Festival" where the provincial governor (kokushi) gathered and enshrined gods from across the province in one place, offering a grand spectacle of portable shrines (mikoshi) from shrines across Awa gathering at Tsurugaya Hachimangu Shrine. The festival is held over two days; on the first day, portable shrines from 10 shrines including Awa Shrine assemble at the temporary shrine (okariya). On the second day, 5 festival floats (dashi) and sacred boat floats (ofune) from Tateyama City's Hojo district join, adding further liveliness to the shrine grounds. The heroic portable shrine procession and the intricately designed floats and boat floats parade captivate visitors. The worship hall of Tsurugaya Hachimangu Shrine is also adorned with the dragon sculpture "Hyakutai no Ryu" (One Hundred Forms of Dragons) created by Yoshimitsu Goto, making it worth seeing even outside the festival season. This festival is designated as an Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Chiba Prefecture and is a precious opportunity to experience firsthand the history and culture of the Awa region.

Venue

Tsurugaya Hachimangu Shrine

68 Yawata, Tateyama, Chiba 294-0047