Northwest Saga · KaratsuNo.1258★★★Open in map →
Karatsu Kunchi
— Karatsu Shrine's autumn festival of lacquered floats
Each year from 2 to 4 November, the lacquered floats of Karatsu Shrine's autumn festival are pulled through the former castle town of Karatsu. The float procession is a national Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property and part of a UNESCO listing.
- FromKaratsu Station (JR Chikuhi and Karatsu Lines)
- ~10 min on footWalk from Karatsu Station
- Karatsu Kunchi
Where it is
14 more notes in Saga · open the map →What to look for — in walking order
- Hikiyama Exhibition Hall (Arpino)the full set of floats standing side by side, in a temporary hall beside Karatsu Station
- Oteguchistarting point of the first night's procession, the floats lit by lanterns
- Karatsu Shrinethe festival's own shrine, where the floats line up after the first night and set out on the next two mornings
- Nishi-no-hama rest sitesandy ground by the beach where the portable shrine rests and the floats are dragged in
How to actually get there
- Hakata → Karatsu Station (Fukuoka City Subway Airport Line, running through onto the JR Chikuhi Line).
- Karatsu Station → Hikiyama Exhibition Hall in the Arpino building, beside the station.
- North through the old castle town, past Oteguchi, to Karatsu Shrine.
- On 3 November, follow the floats north-west to Nishi-no-hama for the noon haul into the sand.
- Walk from Karatsu Station
- Karatsu Station is on the JR Chikuhi and Karatsu lines. From Fukuoka, take the Fukuoka City Subway Airport Line west; JR Chikuhi Line trains run through from the subway, so board one bound for Karatsu or Nishi-Karatsu, and change at Chikuzen-Maebaru if yours ends there. From the station, Karatsu Shrine is about a ten-minute walk north.
- Back to Karatsu Station
- Walk south back to Karatsu Station and take the JR Chikuhi Line toward Fukuoka; some trains continue straight onto the subway. On festival days, buy your return ticket before the procession ends rather than after.
About the place
Kunchi is the Kyushu way of saying kunichi, the days on which the autumn harvest is offered to the gods, and this is Karatsu Shrine's. Its centrepiece is a set of fourteen hikiyama floats, each owned and pulled by one district of the old castle town. They are made in dry lacquer: layers of paper pressed over a clay mould, lacquered again and again, then finished in gold and silver leaf. The forms are bold — a crimson lion's head, a sea bream, a phoenix ship, the helmets of famous warriors. Flutes, drums and bells keep up the float music, and the pullers answer with 'Enya! Enya!' and 'Yoisa! Yoisa!'
How to enjoy it
On 2 November the floats go out after dark, every one hung with lanterns. On 3 November they leave the shrine in the morning with the portable shrine and reach Nishi-no-hama around noon, when the haul into the sand begins; they are pulled back out in the afternoon. On 4 November they tour the town once more and return to their hall towards evening.
Background & history
The shrine's procession to its seaside rest site is said to go back to the Kanbun era (1661–1673), but the floats came later. In 1819 the Katana-machi district finished the first one, the Red Lion, and the other districts followed with floats of their own until 1876. One more float was lost in the Meiji period. The state designated the float festival an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property in 1980, and in 2016 UNESCO inscribed it as one of Japan's Yama, Hoko, Yatai float festivals.
Before you go
- Cash
- The Hikiyama Exhibition Hall charges admission (310 yen for adults when checked). Some sections of the JR Karatsu and Chikuhi lines do not accept IC cards, so keep cash for a paper ticket.
- Before you go
- Selfie sticks and drones are banned along the route, and spectators are asked to keep clear of the floats and their ropes. The exhibition hall is in temporary quarters while a new permanent hall is built, and it closes on the festival days. Opening arrangements may change when the floats move to the new building, so check the Karatsu Tourism Association site before a visit outside the festival.
- Another way
- The Showa Bus 'Karatsu-go' highway bus links Fukuoka with the Karatsu Oteguchi Bus Center, beside the first night's starting point.
- After you get off
- From Karatsu Station, walk north through the old town for about ten minutes. A white torii marks the entrance to Karatsu Shrine.