Nagasaki Kunchi

Nagasaki city, Nagasaki

Place

Suwa shrine, Kaminishiyama-machi, Nagasaki city, Nagasaki
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Date

From 7th to 9th of October

Contact

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Nagasaki +81-95-822-0111

Related Web Site

Nagasaki Kunchi Festival: Visit Nagasaki

Overview

The Nagasaki Kunchi is the autumn festival of Suwa shrine, and it has a history of more than 380 years. In 1634, two prostitutes dedicated “Komai”, a kind of a dance of Kyogen (Noh farce), to the shrine, and it is said that the festival has started since then.
59 towns in Nagasaki city are grouped into seven district (“Odori-cho”), and each district display its dances and show performances once every seven years. Citizens of each district practice hard only for three days of the festival for seven years.

The performance mainly consists of dances, “Hikimono”, “Katsugimono” and “Torimono”.
As for the dances, there are the traditional Japanese dance called “Hon-odori”, the exotic and comical dance “Oranda Manzai” and the dragon dance “Ja-odori”.
“Hikimono” is a ship-shaped float with wheels, and there are various types.
“Katsugimono” is the attraction that a group of people carries a shrine or float.
“Torimono” is a fancy costume parade, like the Daimyo(a feudal lord) procession or “Maso (the Taoistic goddess to which people prayed for the safety of a voyage)” procession.



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