Mikumano Jinja Taisai

The Mikumano Jinja Taisai is the annual festival held on the first Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of April each year at Mikumano Shrine in the Yokosuka district of Kakegawa, Shizuoka Prefecture. Set in the castle town of Enshū Yokosuka, it is a representative spring festival of the Enshū region, in which distinctive floats called "neri" parade and the lively "Enshū Yokosuka Sansha festival music" resounds through the town.

A distinctive feature of this festival is how vividly it conveys the style of Edo's "Tenka Matsuri" (shogunal festivals). In the Edo period, Yokosuka flourished as the castle town of the Yokosuka domain, and Edo's festival culture was transmitted there through the alternate attendance system and other means. As a result, the neri preserve to this day an old form known as "ippon-bashira mando-gata," descended from Edo-style floats. The sight of thirteen neri slowly processing through the castle town to the distinctive melodies of the festival music is rich in atmosphere.

The festival also preserves ritual performing arts such as "jigatame-mai" and "ta-asobi," which pray for safe childbirth and abundant harvests. Mikumano Shrine is an ancient shrine revered as a deity of safe childbirth, and the festival also carries prayers for the granting of children and safe delivery. The Enshū Yokosuka Sansha festival music is designated an Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Shizuoka Prefecture, and together with the streetscape of Yokosuka that retains the air of a castle town, it is a precious festival conveying the essence of Edo culture to the present.