About this event
Held in Isumi City, Chiba Prefecture, the "Choja-Nakane Jusan-sha Festival" is a traditional festival known as a unique festival of Kazusa. Held on Friday, September 25, 2026, it concentrates the festival highlights of both the Choja and Nakane districts. In the Nakane district, from 14:00 at Oshibi Hachiman Shrine, "Oya no Heida," where several people cross shoulders to build 3- or 4-tiered watchtowers, and "Mawari-matsu," where they circle muddy rice fields, are performed. This is a traditional event passed down with the saying, "What you want to show off as local pride are Oya no Heida and Mawari-matsu." Afterward, in the Choja district from 16:00, a portable shrine (mikoshi) and festival song parade takes place at the Choja Shopping Street, marching through the town with heroic festival songs led by a festival float. The climax of the festival is the "Daibakare-shiki" (Grand Farewell Ceremony) held from 19:00, after the mikoshi of both districts gather at Tenjinja Shrine at 18:00. Here, high-pole lanterns are lit, and after lively spectacles where mikoshi from each shrine run around the grounds and toss the mikoshi, they line up holding the mikoshi overhead and sing festival songs lamenting parting: "Young folks, parting is painful; if only meeting didn't bring parting." This festival is said to have begun in the 1760s when an old mikoshi was handed down, and while its name is "Jusan-sha" (13 Shrines), in recent years it has continued to be held with 11 shrines due to a shortage of carriers. There is no parking lot, so the use of public transportation is recommended, with the JR Sotobo Line being the main means for the return trip.
Official website (Japanese) ↗Venue
Tenjinja Shrine (Choja Tenjinja Shrine)
1 Misakicho Choja, Isumi, Chiba 299-4616
Open in Google Maps ↗