Owari Tsushima Autumn Festival

Overview

The Owari Tsushima Autumn Festival is an autumn festival held every year in October in Tsushima City, Aichi Prefecture. Handed down in the town of Tsushima centered on Tsushima Shrine, it features gorgeous floats bearing karakuri mechanical puppets and stone-gathering festival carts that beat gongs and drums as they parade and compete through the town. Counted alongside the summer Owari Tsushima Tenno Festival as one of Tsushima's two great festivals, it is an event long cherished by local people.

Said to have continued for about 300 years, this festival unfolds the float rites handed down in the four districts of Nanakire, Imaichiba, Mukojima, and Kamori. In former times each district held its rites on separate days, but today they are conducted together on the first Sunday of October and the preceding Saturday. A total of twenty carts, combining the floats and the stone-gathering carts, tour the town, dyeing the whole town in festival color as a leading event of Tsushima's autumn.

History and Origins

The Owari Tsushima Autumn Festival is a traditional autumn festival said to have continued for about 300 years. Tsushima flourished from early times as the shrine town and port town of Tsushima Shrine, known as the head shrine of the Tenno shrines throughout Japan, and against the backdrop of this prosperity it nurtured a rich culture of festival rites. The autumn festival too took shape within this history of Tsushima and has been handed down across generations by the hands of the townspeople.

The float rites of this festival have been handed down separately in the four districts of Nanakire, Imaichiba, Mukojima, and Kamori. Originally each district held its rites on different days, but with the passage of time they were consolidated into the present shared schedule of the first Sunday of October and the preceding Saturday. This form, in which each district gathers as one festival while preserving its own distinct style, reflects both the depth of the ties among the neighborhoods of Tsushima and the pride each district has guarded.

The floats and stone-gathering carts that appear in the festival are all precious cultural properties of Tsushima with histories exceeding a hundred years. Preserved through repeated repair and inheritance over long years, these carts are not mere festival implements but embodiments of the region's very history. That these carts, the crystallization of artisans' skill and the townspeople's passion, still actively tour the town today speaks to the value of the Owari Tsushima Autumn Festival.

It should be noted that the summer Owari Tsushima Tenno Festival, held at the same Tsushima Shrine, is known for its float-boat (danjiri-bune) rites in which floats are mounted on boats, and is inscribed on the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage. By contrast, the autumn festival features land-borne floats and stone-gathering carts as its main attraction, and the two are distinct festivals of differing character. Possessing these two festivals is the very reason Tsushima is called a town of festivals.

Highlights

Floats Bearing Karakuri Puppets A great distinctive feature of the Owari Tsushima Autumn Festival is that all its floats bear karakuri mechanical puppets. Atop floats adorned with intricate carving and decoration, the puppets dance and display feats of skill through string manipulation. Belonging to the same lineage as the floats of the Owari and Chita regions, such as the Inuyama Festival and the Kamezaki Shiohi Festival, these karakuri convey Japan's distinctive mechanical-craft culture to this day, and their lifelike performances captivate all who watch.

The Spirited Kurumakiri The floats of Nanakire, Imaichiba, and Mukojima are smaller than those of Kamori and perform a movement called kurumakiri, in which the front wheels are lifted and the float is spun around. Vigorously turning a large float in the narrow town streets is a feat of coordinated strength by the bearers, and the spirited sight unfolding to shouts is among the greatest highlights of the autumn festival.

Kamori's Floats with Weeping-Willow Cherry Decorations The floats of the Kamori district are distinguished by weeping-willow cherry decorations attached at the front, giving them a different character from the smaller floats of the other districts that perform the kurumakiri. Because the shape and decoration of the floats differ by district, a pleasure arises in comparing them during the procession. As the individuality guarded by each district gathers in one place, the whole festival is given a rich variety of expressions.

Stone-Gathering Carts Resounding with Gongs and Drums Parading through the town alongside the floats are the stone-gathering carts, which vigorously beat gongs and drums. Their lively and powerful music generates a festival fervor in contrast to the grace of the karakuri floats. The contrast of stillness and motion woven by the stone-gathering carts and the floats shapes the rich festival soundscape of the Owari Tsushima Autumn Festival.

The Competition at Meitetsu Tsushima Station Square and Tenno-dori During the festival, floats and stone-gathering carts gather at the square in front of Meitetsu Tsushima Station and along Tenno-dori, where karakuri displays and competitions among the carts unfold. The scene of the carts of each neighborhood assembling in one place is splendid and worth seeing, drawing large crowds. Whether following the carts as they tour the town from place to place, or viewing them gathered together in one spot, one can savor the festival's appeal in either way.

A Procession Coloring the Autumn Town The sight of floats and stone-gathering carts touring the shrine town of Tsushima Shrine colors the autumn of the Owari region splendidly. The line of carts advancing against the backdrop of the old townscape of Tsushima, which flourished as a shrine town and port town, creates a scene in which the land's history and the festival become one. The music and the marvels of the karakuri resounding beneath the autumn sky bring visitors the autumn atmosphere distinctive to Tsushima.

Event Information and Access

• Location: Central Tsushima City, Aichi Prefecture
• Main venues: Tsushima Shrine and various sites in the city (the square in front of Meitetsu Tsushima Station, Tenno-dori, and others)
• Dates: The first Sunday of October and the preceding Saturday every year (day one from around 13:00, day two from around 9:00)
• Participation: The four districts of Nanakire, Imaichiba, Mukojima, and Kamori, with a total of twenty floats and stone-gathering carts
• Access: About a 20-minute walk from Tsushima Station on the Meitetsu Tsushima Line
• Organizer and inquiries: Tsushima City Tourism Association and Tsushima City

Nearby Attractions

Tsushima Shrine, the heart of the festival, is an ancient shrine known as the head shrine of the Tenno faith (the worship of Gozu Tenno and Susanoo), said to number some 3,000 shrines throughout Japan. In the Sengoku period it received deep veneration from warlords including Oda Nobunaga, and the weight of history can be felt in its buildings. Paying a visit together with viewing the autumn festival lets one truly sense how deeply the festival is bound to the faith of Tsushima Shrine.

Tsushima holds a history of flourishing as the shrine town and port town of Tsushima Shrine since medieval times, and old townscapes and historic structures are scattered about the city. Walking along the highways, one can trace the vestiges of former days when it thrived as a hub of transport and commerce. Strolling while overlaying the festival's procession route allows a deeper understanding of why the floats and stone-gathering carts take this townscape as their stage.

A little farther afield, one can enjoy sites related to the summer Owari Tsushima Tenno Festival, a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage held at the same Tsushima Shrine, as well as the waterside scenery of the ring-levee region nurtured by the three rivers of Kiso. The castle town of Inuyama, home to the Inuyama Festival that represents the float culture of Owari, and festival towns in the Chita direction are also relatively close, allowing an itinerary touring the festival culture of the Tokai region to be built alongside the Owari Tsushima Autumn Festival.

Related Information

• Month held: October (the first Sunday and the preceding Saturday)
• Prefecture and region: Aichi Prefecture (Chubu region, Owari area)
• Origins: An autumn festival said to have continued for about 300 years (float rites handed down in the four districts of Nanakire, Imaichiba, Mukojima, and Kamori)
• Composition: Floats bearing karakuri puppets and stone-gathering carts with gongs and drums, twenty in total
• Distinctive features: The kurumakiri, in which the front wheels are lifted to spin the float; the weeping-willow cherry decorations of the Kamori floats; the floats and stone-gathering carts are cultural properties of Tsushima with histories exceeding a hundred years
• Related festival: Distinct from the summer Owari Tsushima Tenno Festival (a float-boat rite and UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage); the autumn festival features land-borne floats and stone-gathering carts as its main attraction

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