In July 2016, the famous Yamakasa festival took place in Fukuoka again. Like every year, the festival starts on July 1st and ends on July 15th with a float racing through Hakata and Gion. It is said that the Hakata Gion Festival has been celebrated for about 770 years and was declared a cultural property of Japan.
The floats are the main symbols of the festival. There are two distinct float types.
The bigger float type, Kazariyama, is displayed during the whole festival so you can for example take pictures of it any time during the festival. The Kazariyama is a 13-meter-high float that can be found in different places around Fukuoka. These Kazariyama often depict characters from Japanese myths and even characters from Anime or Manga.
The other float type is the so-called Kakiyami, which is smaller than the former mentioned Kazariyama. Like every year on July 15th at 4:59 a.m., the Kakiyama is brought to the streets around Gion to start a race through the town, the so-called Oiyama. Men predominantly carry the Kakiyama around screaming “Oisa!”. The spectators throw water on them to cool the running men down.
If you want to see the festival too, you should come next July to Fukuoka.
http://www.japanese-school-asahi.com/
