Kawagoe Hikawa Festival

Overview

The Kawagoe Hikawa Festival is a float event held in connection with the grand festival of Hikawa Shrine in Kawagoe City, Saitama Prefecture, and is generally known and loved by the name Kawagoe Matsuri. Held every year on the third Sunday of October and the day before, it features gorgeous, magnificent floats bearing intricate dolls, drawn mainly through the warehouse-style townscape that is the symbol of Koedo Kawagoe. As a precious urban festival that conveys to the present day the style and elegance of the Edo Tenka Matsuri, it has been guarded and handed down for some three hundred and seventy years, and, designated a national Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property and registered as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, it is a festival representative of the Kanto region.

The greatest characteristic of this festival is the Hikkawase, in which several floats face one another at intersections and compete in their musical accompaniment. The sight of many floats confronting and passing one another overwhelms spectators with its great scale. It is the pinnacle of urban festivals, raised with pride by the townspeople against the background of the economic power of Kawagoe, which flourished as a castle town, and the gorgeous scene, united with the warehouse-style townscape, captivates many people each year.

History and Origins

The origins of the Kawagoe Hikawa Festival go back to the first year of Keian, 1648. It is said to have begun when Matsudaira Izu no Kami Nobutsuna, the lord of the Kawagoe domain at the time, donated a portable shrine, lion heads, drums, and the like to Hikawa Shrine and encouraged the festival. From the fourth year of Keian, 1651, a splendid portable shrine procession paraded through the towns of the parish, and the townspeople came to accompany it. This rite and festival, centered on the shinkosai procession, is the origin of Kawagoe Matsuri.

The original shinkosai took the form of a procession of the portable shrine of Hikawa Shrine passing through the towns of the parish, with the ten towns of the parish area attending with performances such as costume parades. In the eleventh year of Genroku, 1698, Takasawamachi, one of the ten towns, presented a dance float for the first time, following the model of the Edo festivals. The dance float was the star of the Edo festivals of the time, and this became a turning point in which the influence of Edo culture was taken into this festival. The history in which Kawagoe developed its festival while sensitively adopting the fashions of Edo is expressed here.

Kawagoe was located so that it could adopt the elegance and customs of Edo in real time through the boat transport of the Shingashi River. Through this boat transport the festival culture of Edo flowed in constantly, and it is said that many of the modern festival rites and customs are rooted in the agreements of the Bunka and Bunsei eras. When floats became the stars of the Edo festivals, in the fifteenth year of Tenpo, 1844, all the floats of the ten towns were unified into the single-pillar style, and were arranged into the present form in which a doll is placed atop the railing.

The Kawagoe Matsuri, handed down in this way without interruption, was highly valued as a precious urban festival conveying the style and elegance of the Edo Tenka Matsuri, and in February of the seventeenth year of Heisei, 2005, the float event of the Kawagoe Hikawa Festival became a national Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property. Furthermore, in 2016 it was registered as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage as a Yama, Hoko, and Yatai float event, together with thirty-three events of the same kind. It can be called a festival that the people of Kawagoe, who bore the prosperity of the castle town, guarded with pride against the background of their economic power and developed while adding the distinctive features of Kawagoe.

Highlights

The Hikkawase The greatest highlight of Kawagoe Matsuri is the Hikkawase. Several floats facing one another compete in the musical accompaniment of flute, drum, gong, and dance, and the festival participants raise their lanterns high and cry out. Especially the Hikkawase at night shows the climax of the entire festival, and the fervor woven by the floats, the music, and the lanterns is a moment in which one can experience the very essence of this festival.

Floats Drawn Through the Warehouse-Style Townscape Gorgeous, magnificent floats bearing intricate dolls are drawn through the warehouse-style townscape that is the symbol of Koedo Kawagoe. The scene of splendid floats advancing against the backdrop of the historic, dignified rows of houses is a beauty unique to an urban festival. The way many floats confront and pass one another at intersections overwhelms spectators with its great scale.

Single-Pillar Style Floats and Dolls The floats of Kawagoe were all unified into the single-pillar style in the fifteenth year of Tenpo, 1844, and arranged into the form in which a doll is placed atop the railing. The figure of a doll set atop a rising single pillar, advancing as if to look down on the warehouse-style townscape and the intersections, is a style unique to Kawagoe that inherits the float culture of Edo. It is also a highlight that each town raises a doll of its own devising.

An Urban Festival Conveying the Edo Tenka Matsuri Kawagoe Matsuri developed under the strong influence of the Edo Tenka Matsuri, the collective name for the festivals of Kanda Myojin and Akasaka Hie Shrine. It has marked some three hundred and seventy years of history as a precious urban festival conveying the style and elegance of the Tenka Matsuri, and offers a rare chance to see today the vestiges of the lost festival culture of Edo.

The Structure of the Festival Continuing from the Grand Festival Kawagoe Matsuri is rooted in the grand festival performed by Hikawa Shrine on October 14, and consists of the shinkosai procession held immediately after and the float event. The multilayered structure, unfolding from the solemn rites of the shrine to the procession of the portable shrine and the gorgeous competition of the floats, gives this festival a depth in both faith and entertainment.

Event Information and Access

• Location: Kawagoe City, Saitama Prefecture
• Venue: Hikawa Shrine and the area of the warehouse-style townscape
• Dates: The third Sunday of October and the day before every year
• Main contents: The grand festival, the shinkosai procession, the float event, and the Hikkawase
• Cultural property designation: National Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property (2005) and UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Yama, Hoko, and Yatai float events (2016)
• Access: To the warehouse-style townscape from Hon-Kawagoe Station on the Seibu Shinjuku Line, and Kawagoe Station and Kawagoeshi Station on the Tobu Tojo Line

Nearby Attractions

Kawagoe is a historic city called Koedo, the Little Edo, and its warehouse-style townscape is known as a precious landscape connected to a nationally designated Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings. The townscape that serves as the stage of Kawagoe Matsuri is one of the foremost tourist destinations in the Kanto region, visited by many tourists even outside the festival period, and simply strolling among the rows of dignified warehouses lets one fully savor the atmosphere of Edo. The distinctive feature of this urban festival lies in the way festival and townscape are inseparably bound.

The Bell of Time, the symbol of the town, is a landmark of Kawagoe that has announced the hours since the Edo period, and along with the warehouse-style townscape it is a presence representative of the scenery of Koedo. Corners retaining a nostalgic atmosphere, such as Candy Alley, are also dotted about, and strolling through them alongside viewing Kawagoe Matsuri lets one fully experience the appeal of Kawagoe as a historic city.

Hikawa Shrine, the root of the festival, is also widely known as a shrine of matchmaking and draws many worshippers. Many rites are handed down within its precincts, and it has been the center of faith for the people of Kawagoe. Kawagoe is also located so as to be easily accessible by rail from the city center, making it a blessed tourist destination where one can enjoy both history and festival even on a day trip.

Related Information

• Month: October (the third Sunday and the day before)
• Location: Kawagoe City, Saitama Prefecture (Kanto region)
• Venue: Hikawa Shrine and the area of the warehouse-style townscape
• Type: A float event of the grand festival of Hikawa Shrine, an urban festival
• Cultural property: National Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property and UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Yama, Hoko, and Yatai float events
• Features: Origins in the first year of Keian, 1648; some three hundred and seventy years of history; the style of the Edo Tenka Matsuri; the float competition Hikkawase

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