Furukawa Festival

古川祭

The annual festival of Keta Wakamiya Shrine in Furukawa, Hida, Gifu. On the night of the 19th, men in white cotton wraps carry a tower bearing a great drum through the town while young men with smaller “attaching drums” charge at it one after another; this okoshi daiko, the “waking drum”, goes on until around midnight. By day, floats decorated with carving and embroidery are drawn through the town of white-walled storehouses, and a mikoshi procession tours the town. An Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property and one of the yama, hoko, yatai float festivals on UNESCO’s intangible heritage list. 19 and 20 April every year.

19–20 April 2027

RegularWorked out from the organiser’s fixed schedule.

167 days away

Every year, 19 April, for 2 days

Future dates: 19 April 2027 · 19 April 2028 · 19 April 2029

Hida City: the Furukawa Festival (Hida City official channel, official channel on YouTube)

Origin

The Furukawa Festival is the annual festival of Keta Wakamiya Shrine, the guardian shrine of Furukawa. The okoshi daiko began as a “wake-up drum” beaten through the town early in the morning to announce the start of the festival; in Furukawa the drum grew larger until the rite took its present form. The floats keep well the shape of festival floats developed in the late Edo period, and were originally escorts for the mikoshi. The festival was selected in 1971 as an intangible folk cultural property to be recorded, designated in 1980 as an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property under the name “the okoshi daiko and float rites of the Furukawa Festival”, and inscribed on UNESCO’s intangible heritage list in 2016. Each year on 1 March a lottery rite decides which groups will lead the drum and the floats.

What to look for

On the night of the 19th, atop a tower carried by hundreds of men, two young men sit back to back astride a great drum about a metre across and bring their sticks down in turn. The okoshi daiko starts with the departure rite at the festival square, where the crowd sings the celebratory song Medeta. It is an honour to bring a small attaching drum up against the great drum at the tail of the procession, so attaching drums lie in wait at crossroads and charge in from the side, and the struggle goes on into the night. Drummer is a once-in-a-lifetime role that local young men long for; each makes his own sticks from willow, starting a month before. In the evening the men of the attaching drums show acrobatics called tonbo. On the 20th the floats are lined up together, with mechanical puppets (Kirin-tai and Seiryū-tai), children’s kabuki on the Byakko-tai and a lion dance from the Kagura-tai, and at night the floats tour the town hung with lanterns to close the festival.

How to watch

At crossroads the attaching drums charge at the great drum, and anyone standing in the middle of the road may be knocked flying, the Hida City tourism association warns; watch from the side of the street. The mikoshi procession, about three hundred people led by a lion dance with court music and banner bearers, spends two days touring the parish, with prayers offered at each group’s duty house; it is a solemn rite.

If you go

The festival takes place in the town centre of Hida-Furukawa, about five minutes’ walk from JR Hida-Furukawa Station. The okoshi daiko is on the night of the 19th, the float line-ups mainly on the 20th, with the night festival on the evening of the 20th. In rain the float line-ups are cancelled, but the okoshi daiko goes ahead. Temporary car parks are opened but fill up badly, so public transport is recommended; extra trains ran from Takayama on the 19th in 2026.

Where

Hida-Furukawa town centre

Hida, Gifu

Open in maps

Sources

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