Mikumano Jinja Taisai

Overview

Mikumano Jinja Taisai is the spring grand festival of Mikumano Shrine in Yokosuka, Kakegawa City, Shizuoka Prefecture, formally known as the Enshu Yokosuka Mikumano Shrine Grand Festival. Held over three days on the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of the first week of April, when the cherry blossoms are in full bloom, it is widely known as the event that opens the spring festival season of the Enshu region. The greatest highlight is the procession of the portable shrine and the 13 gorgeous floats called neri that follow it, which parade vigorously through the streets of the former castle town to the festival music of flutes and drums and the spirited chant of shita, shita.

Mikumano Shrine has long drawn faith as a shrine of safe childbirth and the blessing of children, and the grand festival includes rites such as the miko-daki child-holding rite and prayers for the blessing of children. The depth of this festival lies in the coexistence of the bold pulling of the neri floats and the quiet rites praying for safe birth and children. The Sanja Sairei-bayashi festival music and the ji-gatame-mai earth-firming dance and ta-asobi rice-field play, which form the heart of the festival, are designated intangible cultural properties and intangible folk cultural properties of Shizuoka Prefecture, and the festival is highly valued as a precious folk event that conveys the festival culture of Edo to this day.

History and Origins

The history of the Mikumano Jinja Taisai is old, and it is said that a festival centered on dancing already existed in the Genroku era, around 1690, in the Edo period. The prototype of the present form was created in the Kyoho era, around 1720, when the 14th lord of Yokosuka Castle, Nishio Oki-no-kami Tadanao, brought the festival culture of the Edo Tenka Matsuri, that is, the Kanda and Sanno festivals, to the land of Yokosuka. Handed down through the generations ever since, it has become a festival boasting more than 280 years of tradition.

In Yokosuka, floats are called neri. The pulling of the neri has the character of an attendant to the procession of the portable shrine and developed as a supplementary festival to various rites. The form of the neri, called ippon-bashira mando-gata, or single-pillar mando type, is distinctive, and an almost identical form can be seen in the Kanda Myojin Festival Picture Scroll, which vividly depicts the mid-Edo Tenka Matsuri. Floats of this form have already disappeared in Tokyo, their place of origin, and today they survive only in the Yokosuka district and its vicinity, making them extremely precious.

The Sanja Sairei-bayashi music that enlivens the festival also has its prototype in what the retainers of Nishio Tadanao learned in Edo during his alternate attendance duties in the Kyoho era. Afterward, tunes unique to Yokosuka were added to give it its present form, and its old history and unrivaled melody were recognized when it was designated the first intangible cultural property of Shizuoka Prefecture in 1955. Its repertoire includes the three traveling tunes of oma, yatashita, and baka-bayashi, and the three ceremonial drum pieces of shoten, kamakura, and shichome, played with small and large drums, a suri-gane gong, and a special single-key shinobue flute.

In this way, the Mikumano Jinja Taisai is a festival in which the ritual culture of the Edo Tenka Matsuri was transplanted to the Enshu region through the lord and achieved its own local development. By conveying to this day the single-pillar mando-type neri, lost in its place of origin, and the Sanja Sairei-bayashi, the prefecture's first designated property, it holds meaning not merely as a regional festival but as a precious living cultural asset for understanding the festival culture of Edo. In 2025, the neri events of the Mikumano Jinja Taisai were designated an intangible folk cultural property of Shizuoka Prefecture, formally reaffirming their value.

Highlights

The pulling of the 13 neri floats
The greatest highlight of the grand festival is the bold pulling of the 13 neri that follow the procession of the portable shrine. The sight of the single-pillar mando-type neri parading through the castle-town streets to the chant of shita, shita is full of power, and together with the festival music of flutes and drums, it dyes the whole town in the colors of the festival. Being able to see up close this precious form of float, lost in its birthplace, is a charm unique to this festival.

The prefecturally designated Sanja Sairei-bayashi
The Sanja Sairei-bayashi played atop the neri is the leading voice of sound essential to the festival. The tekomai dancers wearing the masks of hyottoko and okame dancing in time with the music are another highlight, and on Saturday, the eve of the main day, the Sanja Sairei-bayashi Performance Dedication Festival is held, in which the towns compete in their skill. The prestige of being the first designated intangible cultural property of the prefecture backs up its fine melody.

The child-holding rite of safe childbirth and blessing of children
Mikumano Shrine is worshipped as a shrine of safe childbirth and the blessing of children, and on Sunday afternoon of the main day, the miko-daki child-holding rite and prayers for the blessing of children are performed. In contrast to the gorgeous pulling of the neri, these quiet rites praying for the birth of life show that this festival is a rite of faith centered on the prayer for the gift of children.

Dedication of the earth-firming dance and rice-field play
On Sunday afternoon of the main day, the ji-gatame-mai earth-firming dance and ta-asobi rice-field play, prefecturally designated intangible folk cultural properties, are dedicated. This performing art, which mimics the motions of rice planting and prays for a good harvest, is an ancient ritual art quite different from the neri and the music, adding a deep layer of agricultural rite to the festival.

The night festivals that color the three days
The grand festival has endless highlights not only by day but by night. On the eve and the main day, night festivals are held, and the neri illuminated by lights emerge in the nocturnal castle town. In particular, the senshuraku finale on the night of the last day is held in the precincts of Mikumano Shrine, wrapped in an excitement befitting the close of the festival.

The portable shrine procession and attendant parade
On the main day of Sunday, following the grand festival and the divine procession rite, the portable shrine procession takes place, with the attendant parade of neri following it. The procession, centered on the portable shrine and followed by the 13 neri, shows before one's eyes the true meaning of this festival, that the pulling of the neri originally developed as an attendant to the portable shrine procession.

Event Information and Access

• Dates: Three days on the first Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of April each year (April 3 to 5 in 2026)
• Day 1 (Fri) Soroi: Noon to 9 p.m., pulling of the neri
• Day 2 (Sat) Yomiya / Shigaku: Sanja Sairei-bayashi Performance Dedication Festival, night festival
• Day 3 (Sun) Honraku / Rakubi: Grand festival and divine procession rite, portable shrine procession, miko-daki child-holding rite, dedication of the earth-firming dance and rice-field play, senshuraku finale
• Location: Mikumano Shrine and the parishioner area of Yokosuka (Yokosuka, Kakegawa City, Shizuoka Prefecture)
• Access: About 20 minutes by bus from Fukuroi Station on the Tokaido Main Line, get off at Shin-Yokosuka; about 25 minutes by car from Fukuroi IC on the Tomei Expressway

Around the Area

Yokosuka, where Mikumano Shrine stands, is a town that once flourished as the castle town of Yokosuka Castle, and the appearance of the castle town still remains strongly in its old streets. Walking through the town before or after the festival lets you feel firsthand the life of the townspeople who nurtured the neri and the music, and the history in which the festival culture of Edo took root.

Nearby stands Kakegawa Castle, associated with Yamauchi Kazutoyo. Known as Japan's first full-scale wooden restored castle keep and a famous spot for cherry blossoms, it lets visitors who come during the April grand festival enjoy the castle, the cherry blossoms, and the festival all at once.

Enshu Yokosuka is also close to the Enshu Sea and is a land blessed with the bounty of the ocean. After watching the festival, savoring local cuisine or touring the coastal scenery of Enshu is a fine way to enjoy the afterglow of the festival together with sightseeing in the Kakegawa and Enshu area.

Related Information

• Month: April (spring)
• Region: Yokosuka, Kakegawa City, Shizuoka Prefecture (Enshu Yokosuka)
• Shrine: Mikumano Shrine (known for faith in safe childbirth and the blessing of children)
• Origin: The culture of the Edo Tenka Matsuri was brought by the Yokosuka lord Nishio Tadanao in the Kyoho era, around 1720 (more than 280 years of tradition)
• Floats: 13 single-pillar mando-type neri (a precious form lost in its birthplace of Tokyo)
• Cultural properties: Sanja Sairei-bayashi (prefecture's first designated intangible cultural property, 1955), earth-firming dance and rice-field play (prefecturally designated intangible folk cultural property), neri events (designated intangible folk cultural property of the prefecture in 2025)

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