Iida-machi Toroyama Festival

Overview

The Iidamachi Toroyama Festival is the grand annual festival of Kasuga Shrine, located in Iidamachi, Suzu City, Ishikawa Prefecture, and is a summer festival representative of the Noto Peninsula, held mainly on July 20 and 21 each year. It is a rite handed down for some four hundred years in Iidamachi, which lies at the very tip of the Noto Peninsula, and as a Shinto rite it is called the Osuzumi Festival. The centerpiece of the festival is a giant float called the toroyama, whose overwhelming height and splendor are widely known as a seasonal feature announcing the arrival of summer in Noto.

The greatest characteristic of this festival is that a giant doll about six meters tall is raised atop the toroyama, which reaches a height of about sixteen meters, and is pulled through the town. The doll is remade each time, and subjects reflecting the age have been chosen for it. Beginning from the simple faith of inviting the deities out to enjoy the cool of the evening, it developed over time into a magnificent float event, and it is carefully preserved and handed down as an Intangible Folk Cultural Property designated by Suzu City.

History and Origins

The origins of the Iidamachi Toroyama Festival are said to go back to the early years of the Kan'ei era in the Edo period, around the year 1625. During the height of the summer heat at the start of the dog days, it is said that the festival began when people invited out the seven deities enshrined at Kasuga Shrine, including Amenokoyane no Mikoto, to enjoy the cool of the evening. This idea of the deities enjoying the cool of the evening is itself the origin of the rite's name, the Osuzumi Festival, which means the evening cool festival.

In the early days of the festival, the parishioners are said to have lit high paper lanterns and dengaku lanterns and escorted the deities to and from the shrine in a lively procession. This procession bearing lanterns developed into something magnificent over time and eventually changed its form into a giant float called the toroyama. The consistency of the festival's history can be seen in the way the lantern that gives the festival its name leads directly to the origin of the float.

In the early Meiji era, Iidamachi consisted of seven neighborhoods, now eight, and every neighborhood put out a toroyama. Many subjects reflecting the mood of the times were chosen for the dolls, and it is said that dolls with a strong military color, such as soldiers, were also made. Because the neighborhoods produced them as if in competition, dolls that moved by mechanism and evaluations judging the quality of the dolls are said to have been held, showing the town's enthusiasm for the festival.

Entering the Taisho era, as electric lines were strung through the neighborhoods, the floats came to catch on the lines, and it became difficult to run them while raising the dolls. The dolls gradually ceased to be made, and instead a stage was built in front of the float where dances were performed, and children's dances flourished. However, in the fifty-eighth year of Showa, 1983, the Iidamachi Toroyama Festival Preservation Society and the Iidamachi Festival Committee were founded, and the toroyama was formally revived. In recent years the burying of electric lines has partly progressed, and the strong local will to carry on the festival even after overcoming hardships such as earthquakes and heavy rains on the Noto Peninsula has connected this tradition to the present day.

Highlights

The Toroyama, About Sixteen Meters Tall The greatest highlight of the festival is the toroyama, about sixteen meters tall, topped with a giant doll about six meters high. Its appearance as it parades through the town is spectacular, boasting a size that ranks among the largest of the festivals on the Noto Peninsula. Once every two years the doll is made at the Iida Wakuwaku Plaza, and because a subject reflecting the times is chosen, one can encounter a different doll each visit, which is part of its appeal.

The Procession of the Deities by Sakaki Mikoshi In this festival, rather than an ordinary portable shrine, the deities come forth using a sakaki mikoshi, in which a sakaki tree about six shaku tall is set on a white wooden cart and serves as a himorogi, a sacred space for the deities. The distinctive form, in which a temporary shrine set up near the coast serves as the resting place and the procession is held in the evening, conveys a solemn aspect of faith different from other showy float events.

The Rite of Purification with the Great Purification Words At the rite held at the resting place, the Great Purification Words, the ooharae no kotoba, are always recited. The coming forth to the seashore and the recitation of the Great Purification Words truly express the purification of the deities and the parishioners, and this best shows the character of the Osuzumi Festival. The spiritual depth of this festival lies in the way a faith that purifies sin and defilement is deeply rooted beneath the simple aspect of enjoying the evening cool.

A Procession over Two Days The festival begins with the eve festival on July 19, and on the 20th the main festival is held with the procession of the sakaki mikoshi and of the toroyama and floats, while on the 21st a procession of the toroyama through the entire parish area is conducted. The sight of the toroyama making its way through the town over two days is summer itself in Iidamachi, and becomes a time in which the year's excitement of the local people is concentrated.

The Town's Passion for Revival and Succession The history in which the dolls, which once vanished in the Taisho era, were revived through the founding of the preservation society in the late Showa era speaks of the town's strong attachment to this festival. The local attitude of continuing to hold the procession even after overcoming recent earthquakes and heavy rains shows that a traditional event is not merely a tourism resource but the core of the people's lives and pride.

Event Information and Access

• Location: Iidamachi, Suzu City, Ishikawa Prefecture
• Venues: Kasuga Shrine, the neighborhoods of Iidamachi, and the resting place near the coast
• Dates: Every year regardless of the day of the week, July 19 (eve festival), 20 (main festival), and 21 (procession through the whole parish area)
• Main rites: The procession of the sakaki mikoshi, the procession of the toroyama and floats, and the recitation of the Great Purification Words at the resting place
• Cultural property designation: Intangible Folk Cultural Property designated by Suzu City
• Access: Iidamachi in Suzu City, at the tip of the Noto Peninsula; drive north toward Noto from the Kanazawa area

Nearby Attractions

Suzu City, where Iidamachi is located, lies at the very tip of the Noto Peninsula and is a nature-rich region surrounded on three sides by the sea. A coastline facing the Sea of Japan stretches on, and the seaside scenery where the resting place of the Toroyama Festival is set up tells how the life and faith of this land have been deeply bound to the sea. Summer in Suzu is also a season in which many festivals follow one after another, and the Toroyama Festival is positioned as the event that opens them.

The whole Noto Peninsula is a treasure house of festival culture known for the Kiriko festivals, in which giant votive lanterns called kiriko are shouldered, and it draws attention as a component of the Japan Heritage titled the Peninsula Where Lights Dance, Noto. The Iidamachi Toroyama Festival also bears a part of this festival culture of Noto, and touring the region allows one to encounter a variety of festivals through the summer. It is a land where one can experience the unique world of faith surrounding lights and floats that is particular to Noto.

The Noto Peninsula is also widely known as a region where a distinctive landscape of satoyama and satoumi and a traditional way of life have been handed down. The food culture blessed with the bounty of the sea and the townscapes where simple, powerful festivals live on convey to visitors a mood recalling the original scenery of Japan. Alongside viewing the Toroyama Festival, one can slowly savor the nature and culture of Noto.

Related Information

• Month: July (eve festival on the 19th, main festival on the 20th, procession on the 21st)
• Location: Suzu City, Ishikawa Prefecture (Chubu and Hokuriku region)
• Venue: Kasuga Shrine
• Type: The grand festival of Kasuga Shrine, the Osuzumi Festival, a float event
• Cultural property: Intangible Folk Cultural Property designated by Suzu City
• Features: Origins in the early Kan'ei era around 1625; a giant float, the toroyama, about sixteen meters tall; rites of the sakaki mikoshi and the recitation of the Great Purification Words

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