Kishuu (Boat Launching Festival)

About this event

Kishuu, a celebratory day held once a year for fishermen, is a traditional event where fishing boats are decorated all over with big-catch flags (taairyo-bata), and offerings of sakaki branches and sacred sake are made to pray for good catches and safety at sea. It is said to have originated from the practice of launching fishing boats that had been pulled ashore for the winter back into the sea on February 11 to pray for a bountiful catch for that year. This event has continued since the domain era and remains deeply rooted in the region as a Lunar New Year tradition in fishing villages. People involved in each large fixed-net (ooshikiami) association gather for lively drinking parties. Only in the coastal areas of Ishikawa and Toyama Prefectures is it called Kishuu; it is written with characters meaning 'launching the boat' in fishing villages and 'auspicious celebration' in farming villages, though pronounced the same. In other prefectures, it is sometimes called Funaiwai or Funadama Sekku.

Venue

Roadside Station Michi-no-Eki Noto Noukaizen Ichiba

Ro-27-1 Amazaka, Noto-cho, Hosu-gun, Ishikawa 928-0313