Hachinohe Sansha Taisai Festival, Aomori

One of the festivals representing the Tohoku region

Nebuta Festival of Aomori, the Kanto Matsiri Festival of Akita, Tanabata Star Festival of Sendai. Besides these, in Tohoku region, famous festivals are held as summer events.
As one of them, like the Nebuta Festival of Aomori, Hachinohe Sansha Taisai Festival to be held in Aomori Prefecture. It boasts a 300-year history, one of the festivals representing the Tohoku region, held from July 31 to August 4 every year. It was also registered as an Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO in December 2016. The following year, as a registration memorial festival, a festival was held an additional day. It is a big festival with more than one million visitors.
The highlight of this festival is the joint operation of 27 Festival Floats, which are based on myths and kabuki etc., and a parade of three shrines, Ogami Shrine, Chojasanshinra Shrine, Shinmeigu Shrine. The size of the Festival Floats is 10 meters tall and 8 meters wide, so the cheers are cheering on the road every time they pass.
Also, the lit-up Festival Floats is fantastic, and you can enjoy a different atmosphere from the daytime, so please enjoy the evening viewing.
Hachinohe Sansha Taisai Festival is not only a lavish festival floats but also places where you can enjoy Hachinohe’s local arts who join in the procession together. Together with the tour of festival floats, why do you not enjoy Hachinohe’s local arts?
For example, “Tora Mai” (tiger dance) has been handed down as a faith of voyage safety without fire. The tiger rolls all the way to the ground, standing up with pickaback, and acrobatic movements make the audience-pleasing. Also, the lion dance in black is a traditional performing art called “Horyokagura dance,” where the “simultaneous tooth striking” in which the dancer strikes the lion’s head all at once is an attraction. Besides that, many local folks performing arts such as “bamboo leaves dance,” dancing with bamboo leaves, and “Komaodori dance” with a model of a horse appear.
Such local folk performing arts will join the festival floats, so please take a look.

Charms and Highlights of Hachinohe Sansha Taisai Festival

Selected as an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO

Hachinohe Sansha Taisai Festival is the leading gay festival in the Tohoku district performed in Hachinohe-shi, Aomori, from July 31 to August 4 every year. This festival that is proud of the history and tradition in about 290 is also designated as the significant intangible folk cultural asset. It was selected as an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2016.

Joint operation of no less than 27 floats

“Sansha” (three shrines) of “Hachinohe Sansha Taisai” are the three Shinto shrines of “Ogami-jinja Shrine,” “Shinran-jinja Shrine,” “Shinmei-gu Shrine” in Hachinohe-shi. This festival highlights a mikoshi procession of these three shrines and joint operation of no less than 27 floats dealing with a myth, a tradition, kabuki, etc.
The festival car, in particular, is gorgeous and will be certain that you are overwhelmed by its size.

It is worth seeing

Continuous hits of a drum, the tone of a continued whistle, and an energyful shout of children heap up a festival further.
The festival car is lighted up at night, and it is more fantastic, and there is brightness, and it is worth seeing.

More than one million people visit in five days

The number of spectator mobilization in the period of Hachinohe Sansha Taisai is more than one million people in five days.

All the floats gather to the main street

In the festival car, a front part and central part develop horizontally, and there is the thing with the device such as the rear rising.
Moreover, on the eve of the festival (July 31) and the post of the festival (August 4), all the floats gather on the main street of the center of the city and the civic square in front of a municipal office.
Since all the mechanisms operated can be seen thoroughly, the expressiveness of the doll and the elaborate constitution of the scene can be enjoyed.

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