Yobuko Ōtsunahiki (Great Tug of War)

呼子大綱引

A Boys’ Festival tug of war in Yobuko, Karatsu, Saga, in which the town splits into the Hama (sea) side and the Oka (land) side and pulls a huge rope. A win for the sea side means a good catch, a win for the land side a good harvest. Held every year on the first Saturday of June (the children’s pull) and the following Sunday (the adults’ pull).

5–6 June 2027

215 days away

Every year, the 1st Saturday of June, for 2 days

Future dates: 5 June 2027 · 3 June 2028 · 2 June 2029

Origin

The Yobuko tug of war is a shōbu-zuna, an “iris rope” pull once held at the Boys’ Festival of the fifth lunar month, to divine the year’s catch and harvest and to pray for the health of children celebrating their first Boys’ Festival. Since 1974 it has been held on the first Saturday of June and the following day. Local tradition says it began when Toyotomi Hideyoshi, camped at Nagoya Castle nearby, had his men pull a warship’s mooring rope to raise their spirits. As the only Boys’ Festival tug of war in Kyushu, it was designated a national Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property in 2013.

What to look for

On Sunday afternoon, in the street in front of Sanjinja shrine, the town’s eleven districts split into the Sakikata (sea side) and the Urakata (land side) and pull the great rope to the clang of gongs. It is best of three. At the centre sits the mito, the knot joining the two halves of the rope, wrapped in straw and matting with irises inside. Before the pull, babies celebrating their first Boys’ Festival are set on the mito to be blessed. Because the rope is pulled through the town’s winding streets, posts called bongui stand at the corners to keep it off the houses, and water is thrown on them so the rubbing rope does not overheat.

An introduction to the Yobuko Ōtsunahiki (Leading 2 Nagoya #21) (Karatsu City official channel, official channel on YouTube)

How to watch

This is the people of Yobuko divining their year’s catch and harvest, and the pulling is led by the young men of each district, the wakkashi. The two sides are not made equal, and nobody counts them. The wakkashi direct the pull from on top of the bongui posts, so watch from where you will not get in the way of the rope and the pullers.

If you go

If you go, be on Ōtsunahiki-dōri in front of Sanjinja shrine on the afternoon of the first Sunday of June. Anyone, visitors included, can join the adults’ pull, and the organisers provide happi coats. It goes ahead as normal in rain (2023). The pull for children of primary-school age and under is on the Saturday afternoon in front of the Yobuko civic centre. On Sunday morning the wakkashi make their rounds of the houses, beating gongs. The Yobuko Ōtsunahiki Hall (free entry) displays the history of the pull and one of the ropes actually used.

Where

Ōtsunahiki-dōri in front of Sanjinja shrine, Yobuko

Karatsu, Saga

Open in maps

Sources

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