About this event
About 250 years ago, when the embankment at Nakanokuchi collapsed due to a major flood of the Kurobe River, villagers rushed the embankment construction work with the cooperation of downstream villages. As night fell, torches were made in front of Hakanoki Shinmei Shrine and carried to the embankment all night long. Because that day was the night of October 9, the Torch Festival came to be held on this night. Later, after the birth of the new Nyuzen Town, the date was changed to around October 13, and it became a festival to express gratitude to the water deity and pray for bountiful harvests and peace. Each household offers first-harvest rice to Suijin Shrine. The large torch is made by bundling about 50 large and small bamboo poles into a core, wrapping straw around it with ropes. The large torch, measuring about 5 meters in height, 1.2 meters in diameter, and weighing around 200 kilograms, is carried along to rice-harvest songs. In front of the two large torches, dozens of small torches carried by children gather and are transported about 800 meters upstream from Shinmei Shrine to Suijin Shrine. There, the large torches are burned brightly, and all participants offer prayers. This festival is designated as an Intangible Folk Cultural Property.
Source website (Japanese) ↗Venue
Hakanoki
Hakanoki, Nyuzen-machi, Shimoniikawa-gun, Toyama 939-0632
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