Niihama Taiko Festival

The Niihama Taiko Festival is an autumn festival held in mid-October each year in Niihama, Ehime Prefecture, counted among the three great festivals of Shikoku and known for its spirited grandeur. Often called a "men's festival," it is Niihama's largest annual event, the time of year when the local community burns most fiercely with excitement.

The stars of the festival are the enormous floats called taikodai. Standing roughly 5.5 meters tall, 11 meters long, and weighing about 3 tons, each taikodai is adorned with lavish hanging curtains embroidered in gold thread, earning them the title of "moving works of art." More than fifty taikodai exist across the city, each hoisted by around 150 men known as kakifu.

The festival's greatest spectacle is the "kakikurabe," in which several taikodai are lifted aloft simultaneously to compete in height and strength. The sight of men raising these three-ton giants high into the sky to chants of "sōrya, sōrya" is overwhelming, bringing the crowd's excitement to its peak. The beauty of the ornate embroidered curtains combined with the raw power of the men supporting them is the very essence of the Niihama Taiko Festival—a splendid autumn celebration full of tradition and passion, the pride of the industrial city of Niihama on the Seto Inland Sea.