Central Japan · Fukui · Katsuyama
Katsuyama Sagichō Festival
勝山左義長まつり
A Little New Year fire festival held for more than 300 years in the streets of Katsuyama, Fukui. On towers built in twelve neighbourhoods, adults and children in red under-kimono beat drums with comic gestures to lively music on shamisen, flute and gong. It ends with the dondo-yaki, when the sacred effigies of every neighbourhood are burned together on the bank of the Kuzuryū River. Held every year on the last Sunday of February and the Saturday before.
Next
27–28 February 2027
118 days away
Every year, the last Sunday of February, minus 1 day, for 2 days
Future dates: 27 February 2027 · 26 February 2028 · 24 February 2029
Origin
The sagichō is a Little New Year fire festival held in many parts of Japan, one of the customs of the fifteenth day of the first month that go back to the Heian period. Katsuyama’s has a history of more than 300 years, going back to when the Ogasawara lords took over the Katsuyama domain in the Edo period. It was once held on the fourteenth day of the first lunar month, but for the convenience of visitors and organisers it now takes place on the last weekend of February. The comic performers dancing on the towers to the music are found only in Katsuyama, and people call it a strange and wonderful festival. It is an intangible folk cultural property of Fukui Prefecture.
What to look for
For two days drums and music ring out from twelve towers across the town, and at 8 p.m. on the Sunday the sacred effigies are set alight all at once in the dondo-yaki at Benten Ryokuchi park. The towers, built entirely of cypress like the hall of a shrine, are about 4 metres wide and 6 metres tall. On the upper stage, performers in brightly coloured under-kimono beat the sagichō drum with their own comic gestures to quick music on shamisen, flute and gong. In the street of each neighbourhood stands its sacred effigy of pine and bamboo, and strips of paper in the neighbourhood’s own three or four colours hang above the road. Each neighbourhood competes to make tsukurimono, figures on the theme of the year’s zodiac animal built from everyday objects, with a poem explaining each one. Lanterns painted with satirical verses line the streets. On Sunday evening sacred fire taken at Shinmei Shrine is carried to the riverbank of the Kuzuryū, where it lights the effigies piled with New Year decorations, and the festival ends in flames bright against the snow.
The towers and bonfire of the Katsuyama Sagichō Festival (Katsuyama City, official channel on YouTube)
How to watch
The organisers ask visitors to follow the instructions of the tower crews when watching near a tower and not to block the street with stepladders or the like, not to crowd the towers, and not to call out to the performers. If you bring New Year decorations to be burned in the dondo-yaki, remove any plastic, food and metal first; decorations that still have them will not be accepted. Dolls and kadomatsu pine decorations cannot be burned. Filming with drones is banned at the festival.
If you go
The music on the towers runs for two days from early Saturday afternoon; for the dondo-yaki, go on the Sunday night. On Sunday daytime there is also a children’s music contest. The festival fills the centre of Katsuyama, close to Katsuyama Station on the Echizen Railway. Car parks are very crowded every year, so the organisers recommend public transport. The main street is badly congested during the festival, and you are asked not to park on the road.
Where
Central Katsuyama and Benten Ryokuchi park
Katsuyama, Fukui
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