Out of Norm Travels - Adventures in Japan: November Karatsu Festival
For 2019, my Japan adventures kickstarted with Fireworks at Lake Biwa and Osaka in August (here is the blog entry for my Fireworks trip Osaka trip) and recently in November to Saga (mainly for the Saga International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta - blog entry here).
This entry is for an unexpected detour to Karatsu, an hour away from for their Karatsu Festival. Karatsu (唐津) is where this festival is held and is a coastal city in Saga Prefecture on Kyushu, about 50 kilometers west of Fukuoka. In the past, Karatsu was a major stop for ships making the journey towards Korea and China because it is one of the closest Japanese cities to the Korean Peninsula. Today the city is known for its castle, the annual Karatsu Kunchi festival held in November 2 to 4 every year.
During Karatsu Kunichi, floats are paraded in the order of completion with the oldest being the Red Lion Aka-jishi (made in 1819) and youngest float called 7 Jewel (Shichiho-maru) made in 1876. The atmosphere of festival is greatly helped by the festive sounds of the Hikikos who displayed boundless energy in performing their tasks to make the event a huge success.
The parade itself is named a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage and judging from the crowd involving everyone from the very young to elderly as Hikiko (people pulling the floats), it will continue to have many more festivals in years to come. Pulling the Hikiyama must have been not only a strenuous but also emotional effort as I saw many Hikikos shedding tears at the end of the event.
According to the tourist literature, the 1st Hikiyama was the Red Lion Float (aka-jishi) that was made on 1819 by the town Katana. Karatsu Kunchi is believed to originate in a ceremony that began around 1663 where gods were carried in portable shrines called Mikoshi to celebrate the foundation of the Karatsu Shrine. It is packed with spectators
(both local and foreign) tourists attending the event.
Food and game stalls lined up the streets of Karatsu during the festival period with many stores putting up temporary food stands to welcome the huge crowds that descend on the area. I am rather happy that I got my compact DJI Osmo with me as with so many spectators, one can only effectively take photos or videos by holding up your camera (disallowed) or using selfie sticks (also disallowed).
I thoroughly enjoyed my sojourn here as this was much more than I expected for this trip and a rather spectacular way to end my trip to Japan. I am already planning for my next trip here since both the Saga Balloon Fiesta occurs at the same time as this Karatsu Festival. Perhaps the next time round, I'll do a reverse travel by starting my stay at Karatsu to coincide with the 1st day of the Festival where a reportedly dazzling night display only held on the 1st day of the festival (2 Nov) with the 2nd day involving the carrying of the 3 ton Hikiyamas on the sandy Nishinomhama beach. With the last day of the Saga Balloon Fiesta coinciding with the last day of the Karatsu Festival, I'd have to start thinking of ways to travel to Saga to catch the morning light of the balloon flight as it takes about 1 hour train travel from Karatsu to Saga.
Well then, enjoy some of the photos & videos taken at this Festival and until the next time, onto the world and beyond!
This entry is for an unexpected detour to Karatsu, an hour away from for their Karatsu Festival. Karatsu (唐津) is where this festival is held and is a coastal city in Saga Prefecture on Kyushu, about 50 kilometers west of Fukuoka. In the past, Karatsu was a major stop for ships making the journey towards Korea and China because it is one of the closest Japanese cities to the Korean Peninsula. Today the city is known for its castle, the annual Karatsu Kunchi festival held in November 2 to 4 every year.
During Karatsu Kunichi, floats are paraded in the order of completion with the oldest being the Red Lion Aka-jishi (made in 1819) and youngest float called 7 Jewel (Shichiho-maru) made in 1876. The atmosphere of festival is greatly helped by the festive sounds of the Hikikos who displayed boundless energy in performing their tasks to make the event a huge success.
The parade itself is named a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage and judging from the crowd involving everyone from the very young to elderly as Hikiko (people pulling the floats), it will continue to have many more festivals in years to come. Pulling the Hikiyama must have been not only a strenuous but also emotional effort as I saw many Hikikos shedding tears at the end of the event.
According to the tourist literature, the 1st Hikiyama was the Red Lion Float (aka-jishi) that was made on 1819 by the town Katana. Karatsu Kunchi is believed to originate in a ceremony that began around 1663 where gods were carried in portable shrines called Mikoshi to celebrate the foundation of the Karatsu Shrine. It is packed with spectators
(both local and foreign) tourists attending the event.
I thoroughly enjoyed my sojourn here as this was much more than I expected for this trip and a rather spectacular way to end my trip to Japan. I am already planning for my next trip here since both the Saga Balloon Fiesta occurs at the same time as this Karatsu Festival. Perhaps the next time round, I'll do a reverse travel by starting my stay at Karatsu to coincide with the 1st day of the Festival where a reportedly dazzling night display only held on the 1st day of the festival (2 Nov) with the 2nd day involving the carrying of the 3 ton Hikiyamas on the sandy Nishinomhama beach. With the last day of the Saga Balloon Fiesta coinciding with the last day of the Karatsu Festival, I'd have to start thinking of ways to travel to Saga to catch the morning light of the balloon flight as it takes about 1 hour train travel from Karatsu to Saga.
Well then, enjoy some of the photos & videos taken at this Festival and until the next time, onto the world and beyond!
Afterword: I only started visiting Japan back in 2017 with my very 1st trip to its capital, Tokyo, which was memorable as I caught my first sight of the cherry blossoms. Then I started going back to Japan - twice in 2018 to Nagasaki (via Fukuoka) for the summer fireworks in August and then to Nagano (via Tokyo) for the Autumn Fireworks in November - a blog entry that I did for my Italian friend of my 2018 Japan adventures are here: https://ugoceiphotography.com/b/photographing-fireworks-japan/.
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