Owari Tsushima Tennō Festival

Overview

The Owari Tsushima Tenno Festival is a summer festival centered on the danjiri-bune (float-boat) rites, held as the ritual observance of Tsushima Shrine in Tsushima City, Aichi Prefecture. A venerable festival that has walked hand in hand with the history of Tsushima Shrine, its beginnings are said to reach back nearly 600 years, and among the many summer festivals of Japan it has long been praised as one of the most gorgeous. The word Tenno in the festival's name derives from Gozu Tenno, the deity of Tsushima Shrine, a god of protection against pestilence who became fused with Susanoo, and the festival belongs to the Gion faith tradition of praying for the warding off of summer epidemics.

Today the festival unfolds over two peaks: the Yoi-matsuri (eve festival) on the night of the fourth Saturday of July, and the Asa-matsuri (morning festival) on the following Sunday morning. The fantastical sight of five makiwara-bune boats, each lit with around 500 lanterns, floating on the nighttime Tenno River during the eve festival, and the valiant rites the next morning in which six float-boats led by the Ichie-guruma take to the water, form the two climaxes of this festival. Designated a National Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property in 1980, it was registered in 2016 as one of the 33 nationwide events making up the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Yama, Hoko, Yatai float festivals, and it stands as one of Japan's representative river festivals.

History and Origins

There are several theories about the origin of the Tenno Festival, and Tsushima Shrine does not fix its beginning to a single account, but all of the theories convey a history of nearly 600 years. One leading account holds that when Prince Yoshikimi, a great-grandson of Emperor Godaigo, fled to Tsushima during the period of the Northern and Southern Courts, the warriors of the shike-shichimyoji clans of Tsushima who protected the Southern Court's Yoshikimi lured a Northern Court warrior, Daishiri Osumi-no-kami of Saya village, into a boating outing and struck him down, and that the festival came to be held in commemoration of this. The shike-shichimyoji were the local magnates and headmen of Tsushima, comprising the four houses of Ohashi, Okamoto, Tsunekawa, and Yamakawa, and the seven surnames of Hotta, Hirano, Hattori, Suzuki, Mano, Koga, and Kawamura.

Another theory tells that when Susanoo came ashore from the western sea at Ichie Island (present-day Higashibo-cho, Aisai City), he saw children who cut grass playing and frolicking, and composed the Children's Dance and the score of the Tsushima flute; later, when a pestilence spread, the festival was held to console the deity. There is also a theory that the rite of Miyoshi-nagashi, in which spirits were pacified and sent off to Shinsen-en garden in Kyoto, gradually spread to the provinces. In the Miyoshi-nagashi, human sins and impurities were entrusted to the reeds growing thickly along the riverbank, or sealed within reed tubes and set adrift; it was a rite of welcoming the deity, treating the sacred reed as a yorishiro (a vessel for the divine spirit), in order to pass safely through the fierce summer heat. These traditions speak to how deeply this festival is rooted in the warding off of pestilence and in waterside faith.

During the Warring States period, Oda Nobunaga, who counted Tsushima among his economic bases, is said to have watched this festival as well, suggesting that the rite developed together with the prosperity of Tsushima. In the Edo period, the Owari domain protected the festival generously, granting the Ichie-guruma, the centerpiece of the morning festival, land yielding over 53 koku and directing that its tax rice be used for the Ichie-guruma's expenses. This land still remains today as the place name Kurumada, where a monument marking the site of the Ichie-guruma's Kurumada stands.

The Tenno Festival was once held on the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the sixth month of the old lunar calendar, but from 1963 (Showa 38) it was changed to the present schedule of the eve festival on the fourth Saturday of July and the morning festival the following Sunday. Through its long history, while its bearers and dates have changed, the distinctive festival form of the float-boats and the efforts of the local people who sustain them have been handed down, becoming a cultural asset recognized by the world through national designation and UNESCO registration.

Highlights

The fantastical makiwara-bune of the eve festival　The stars of the eve festival are the five makiwara-bune sent out from the five villages of Tsushima: Toge, Komenoza, Imaichiba, Ikadaba, and Shimogamae. Atop each boat's platform, 365 lanterns are arranged into a semicircular, mountain-like shape, representing the number of days in a year. High in the center a true pillar is raised, bearing 12 lanterns that represent the number of months in a year. When the lanterns are lit, the boats slowly emerge from the Kurumagawado while the Tsushima flute plays, and the sight of them rowing across the Tenno River as their lights reflect on the water's surface is the fantastical scene that symbolizes this festival.

The valiant morning festival and the Ichie-guruma's hoku-mochi　The morning festival the next day is the heart of the rite, when the boats appear freshly adorned with gorgeous curtains after their lanterns have been removed during the night. Led by the Ichie-guruma of the former Ichie village (present-day Higashibo-cho, Aisai City), a total of six float-boats bearing okimono figures modeled on Noh performances row out to Marukе while playing ancient music. The greatest highlight comes when ten hoku-mochi in loincloths leap one after another into the water from the Ichie-guruma and, shouldering their cloth halberds, swim in an old-style stroke in a straight line to the Otabisho, a valiant rite that concentrates the strength of the young men who carry on the festival's tradition.

The dignified features of the Ichie-guruma　The Ichie-guruma, the star of the morning festival, is said to preserve an older, more classical form than the five boats of Tsushima. It is larger than the five boats, and the okimono (Noh figure) placed on top is chosen anew each year by sacred lot. It carries a kosode curtain said to have been bestowed by Tokugawa Ieyasu, and the hollyhock crest can be seen on the front of the float-boat, with the traces of Edo-period domain protection alive in every detail. These features convey not merely splendor but the weight of the history the festival has accumulated.

The rites of welcoming and returning the deity　It is easy to be captivated by the splendor of the makiwara-bune and the float-boats, but the core of the Tenno Festival lies in the rites of welcoming and sending off the deity of Tsushima Shrine. In the eve festival the boat riders pay reverence to the mikoshi at the Otabisho, and in the morning festival the hoku-mochi, after swimming ashore, run to Tsushima Shrine to dedicate their cloth halberds. Then children cross from each float-boat to the Otabisho, and after the rite of returning the mikoshi they parade to the main hall, closing with the children's sacred music before the deity. It is in this solemn flow of worship behind the gorgeous boat rites that the true meaning of the festival resides.

Event Information and Access

The venue is Tenno River Park (around Marukе) in Tsushima City, Aichi Prefecture, with the festival staged on Tsushima Shrine and the Tenno River. The eve festival is held on the fourth Saturday of July every year, and the morning festival on the following Sunday. It was once held on the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the sixth lunar month, but the schedule was changed to the present form in 1963 (Showa 38).

The eve festival begins around the time the lanterns are lit on the five makiwara-bune after sunset, and the morning festival opens around 8:30 a.m. on Sunday with a red boat sent out by the priests of Tsushima Shrine. Because the times, the progression, and the availability of paid viewing seats vary from year to year, please be sure to check the official announcements of Tsushima City and Tsushima Shrine for the latest dates, times, and whether the festival will be held.

By public transport, Tsushima Station on the Meitetsu Tsushima Line is the nearest station, and Tenno River Park is within walking distance of the station. As the surrounding area becomes very crowded on the day of the festival, use of public transportation is recommended. Given the nature of a festival that uses the river and boats, note also that the progression may be affected by the weather.

The Ichie-guruma, the star of the morning festival, is borne by the neighboring city of Aisai, and on the afternoon of the fourth Saturday of July a children's procession is held from Hoshi Daimyojin Shrine in Nishibo-cho, Aisai City, toward Saya-cho, passing along the Saya Kaido, a branch route of the old Tokaido. That the festival is sustained by both Tsushima City and Aisai City is another of its distinctive features.

Around the Area

Tsushima Shrine is regarded as the head shrine of the roughly 3,000 Tenno and Tsushima shrines across Japan, an ancient shrine enshrining Gozu Tenno and Susanoo. Historic structures such as the tower gate and main hall remain within its precincts, and many visit to worship even outside the festival season. Tenno River Park, the stage of the festival, is a park centered on a pond that preserves the vestiges of the former Tenno River; it is also known as a place for wisteria in early summer, and grows lively with visitors during its wisteria festival.

The town of Tsushima retains an old townscape conveying its history as the shrine-front town and port town that flourished around Tsushima Shrine. Tsushima once prospered as a hub of water transport and faith on the Kiso River system, and this wealth supported the splendor of the Tenno Festival. Old merchant houses and shrines and temples are scattered through the town, and one can walk while tracing the local history that lies behind the festival.

Aisai City, the land connected to the Ichie-guruma that carries the morning festival, has the monument marking the site of the Ichie-guruma's Kurumada and the remnants of Saya-juku, a post town of the old Saya Kaido. Located within a relatively short train ride from central Nagoya, the whole surrounding area makes a fine base for a journey to experience the waterside history and faith of the Owari region.

Related Information

• Official name: Owari Tsushima Tenno Festival (the ritual observance of Tsushima Shrine, a float-boat rite)
• Location: Tenno River Park and the Tsushima Shrine area, Tsushima City, Aichi Prefecture (the morning festival's Ichie-guruma is borne by Aisai City)
• Dates: every year on the fourth Saturday of July (eve festival) and the following Sunday (morning festival); formerly the 14th-15th of the sixth lunar month
• Cultural designation: National Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property (1980); one of the 33 events in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Yama, Hoko, Yatai float festivals (2016)
• Origin: said to be nearly 600 years old, with several theories (Prince Yoshikimi legend, Susanoo's landing at Ichie Island, and the Miyoshi-nagashi origin)
• Main rites: makiwara-bune of the eve festival (365 lanterns plus 12); six float-boats of the morning festival; the leap and old-style swim of the Ichie-guruma's ten hoku-mochi
• Nearest station: Tsushima Station on the Meitetsu Tsushima Line (walking distance to Tenno River Park)

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