Chiryū Festival

The Chiryū Festival is a festival held every May at Chiryū Shrine in Chiryū, Aichi Prefecture. In alternating years, the "main festival" (honmatsuri) and the "interval festival" (aimatsuri) are held, and in main festival years it is nationally renowned for the "float bunraku" and "karakuri" performed atop magnificent floats.

The greatest highlight of the main festival is the five splendid and ornate floats. In this festival, said to have begun in the Edo period, "float bunraku"—staging puppet jōruri (bunraku) on the float's platform—and "float karakuri"—in which intricate puppets perform plays through string manipulation—are dedicated. Performing both bunraku and karakuri atop a single float is rare even nationwide, drawing attention for its high artistic value.

Chiryū has a history of flourishing as "Chiryū-juku," a post town on the Tōkaidō highway, and Chiryū Shrine is an ancient shrine also known for faith in protection against venomous snakes. The delicate puppet artistry unfolding atop the floats conveys the essence of performing arts nurtured by the townspeople's culture of the Edo period. Designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Japan in 1990 as the "Float Bunraku and Karakuri of Chiryū," and registered in 2016 as part of the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage "Yama, Hoko, Yatai float festivals in Japan," it is a spring festival representing the Owari and Mikawa regions.