Chiryū Festival

Overview

The Chiryu Festival (Chiryu Matsuri) is the annual festival of Chiryu Shrine, located at the heart of Chiryu City in Aichi Prefecture. Renowned as one of the leading float festivals of the Tokai region in early summer, it is held over two days on May 2 and 3. Its greatest attractions are the procession of magnificent wheeled floats and, above all, the dedicatory performances of ningyo joruri puppet theater, known as dashi bunraku, together with karakuri mechanical puppets, staged atop the moving floats. As a town that flourished as a post station on the old Tokaido highway, Chiryu developed a refined townspeople culture, and this festival is its crystallization, distinguished by the presentation of sophisticated performing arts on floats that serve as mobile stages.

By custom, the festival alternates each year between the grand festival, called honmatsuri, and the intermediate festival, called aimatsuri. In the years of the grand festival, five neighborhoods, namely Yamacho, Nakashinmachi, Honmachi, Nishimachi, and Takaramachi, each bring out a lavishly decorated float roughly seven meters tall and weighing about five tons. In 2016, the Dashi Bunraku and Karakuri of Chiryu was inscribed as one of the constituent elements of the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage entry Yama, Hoko, Yatai float festivals, earning high acclaim both in Japan and abroad. Not only local spectators but also visitors from afar and researchers gather in large numbers, and over the two days the whole town is swept up in festive spirit.

History and Origins

The origin of the float dedication at the Chiryu Festival is said to date back to the second year of the Joo era, 1653. This corresponds to the reign of Tokugawa Ietsuna, the fourth shogun, and the festival has thus been handed down continuously for some 370 years. In the Edo period, Chiryu prospered as Chiryu-shuku, a post station on the Tokaido, the highway of fifty-three stages, bustling with the traffic of people and goods, as well as information and culture. Such economic and cultural richness is thought to have provided the foundation that allowed each neighborhood to maintain the costly and elaborate apparatus of the floats and to nurture intricate performing arts.

The dashi bunraku performed atop the floats is a form in which three-man ningyo joruri puppet theater is staged upon a moving float, a style that is rare even nationwide. By the mid-Edo period, it had taken root as a stage art of the floats, together with karakuri puppet performances. Ningyo joruri was originally a performing art staged indoors, and to realize it on a swaying float using the three-man technique requires great skill from both the puppeteers and the musical accompanists. This speaks to the high level of technique that the townspeople of Chiryu refined over many long years.

Even in modern times, the people of Chiryu have continued to preserve this traditional art without letting it lapse. The Dashi Bunraku of Chiryu was designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property of the nation in 1990, and its artistic and historical value was thereby officially recognized. The karakuri of the floats likewise received prefectural designation from Aichi in 1967 and was selected in 1979 as an intangible folk cultural property for which the nation should take measures such as documentation. Thus both the puppet theater and the karakuri accumulated high esteem in stages.

Then, in December 2016, a group of thirty-three float festivals from across Japan was jointly inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity under the heading Yama, Hoko, Yatai float festivals, and the Dashi Bunraku and Karakuri of Chiryu was included among them. Preservation activities are led chiefly by the Chiryu Dashi Bunraku Preservation Society and the Chiryu Karakuri Preservation Society, which continue their efforts to pass this precious art to future generations through the training of successors and the transmission of technique.

Highlights

The Procession of Five Floats In the years of the grand festival, five neighborhoods, Yamacho, Nakashinmachi, Honmachi, Nishimachi, and Takaramachi, each bring out a grand float about seven meters tall and weighing roughly five tons. Accompanied by musical playing called kanmai, the floats advance through the streets as if pressing against the eaves of the houses, a truly magnificent sight. The two-story floats are adorned with fine carvings and hangings, and the way each neighborhood competes with its own distinctive design is itself a point of interest.

The Dedication of Dashi Bunraku The greatest highlight is the ningyo joruri puppet theater, dashi bunraku, performed on the platform of the floats. The three-man puppets weave their stories through delicate movements with a level of accomplishment rivaling that of an indoor stage. That such a demanding art can be realized on a swaying float concentrates in itself the high standard of Chiryu performing arts, and spectators hold their breath at the skill on display.

The Artistry of Karakuri Puppets Alongside the dashi bunraku, performances of intricate karakuri mechanical puppets are also given. Moved by strings and springs, the karakuri puppets dance and enact their tales, conveying to this day the finest craftsmanship of Edo-period artisans. The fact that two forms of puppet art, bunraku and karakuri, are dedicated at a single festival is rare and precious even nationwide.

The Miyairi at Chiryu Shrine The miyairi, in which the five floats gather at Chiryu Shrine and are dedicated, marks the climax of the festival. Many worshippers and spectators crowd the vicinity of the shrine, and the music and cheers resound through the precincts. A solemn yet lively scene unfolds, uniting the history and faith of Chiryu, which developed as a post town of the highway.

The Charm of Grand and Intermediate Festivals A major feature is the alternation each year between the grand festival and the intermediate festival. Whereas the grand festival brings out five large floats, the intermediate festival features flower floats called hanaguruma, on which dashi bunraku and karakuri are likewise performed. Because the festival shows a different face each year, there is delight in comparing the two.

The Atmosphere of a Tokaido Post Town Traces of the days when Chiryu flourished as the Tokaido post station of Chiryu-shuku remain throughout the townscape that serves as the stage for the festival. Walking the streets where the floats pass and the nearby historic sites, one can sense the memory of a land where the bustle of a post town and the culture of festivals were nurtured together.

Access and Information

• Location: Chiryu City, Aichi Prefecture
• Venue: Chiryu Shrine (12 Nishimachi Kanda, Chiryu City) and various districts of the city
• Dates: May 2 and 3 each year (grand and intermediate festivals held in alternate years)
• Floats: Five floats in the grand festival (about seven meters tall, roughly five tons)
• Access: Within walking distance of Chiryu Station on the Meitetsu Nagoya Main Line; about twenty minutes by limited express from Meitetsu Nagoya Station
• Organizer and inquiries: Chiryu City Tourism Association (within Chiryu City Hall)

Around the Area

Chiryu Shrine is a venerable old shrine once counted among the three great shrines of the Tokaido. Within its precincts stands a tahoto pagoda said to have been built in the Muromachi period, designated an Important Cultural Property of the nation. Even on days other than the festival, the quiet dignity of this ancient shrine and its historic architecture are well worth visiting. It is also known as a place of flowers, and its iris garden displays beautiful scenery in early summer, coinciding with the season of the festival.

Chiryu City is a place that once prospered as Chiryu-shuku, a post town on the Tokaido of fifty-three stages, and within the city there remain landscapes that evoke the history of the highway, such as the route of the old Tokaido and rows of pine trees. Together with festival viewing, a stroll tracing the vestiges of the post town can be enjoyed.

Chiryu also enjoys good access to the Nagoya area and to various parts of the Mikawa region, and a region rich in float festivals extends around it. By visiting together with the festival cultures of the wider Mikawa area, such as nearby Kariya and Okazaki, one can more deeply savor the full picture of the abundant float culture rooted in this region.

Related Information

• Month: May (early summer)
• Prefecture and region: Chiryu City, Aichi Prefecture, Tokai region
• Origins: Said to have begun with float dedications in the second year of the Joo era, 1653
• Cultural property designation: The Dashi Bunraku of Chiryu designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property of the nation in 1990
• International recognition: Inscribed on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list as part of Yama, Hoko, Yatai float festivals in 2016

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