Sunari Festival

The Sunari Festival is a festival held at Tomiyoshi Tatehaya Shrine and Hachiken Shrine in Kanie Town, Ama District, Aichi Prefecture—a river festival of "Tennō faith" unfolding on the water. Boasting around 400 years of history, it is registered as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage under the name "the danjiri-boat event and reed-floating of the Sunari Festival."

The festival centers on two days: the "evening festival" (yoimatsuri) and the "morning festival" (asamatsuri). The greatest highlight is the ornate "danjiri boats" that travel along the Kanie River. The scene of the maki-wara boats, beautifully adorned with lanterns, advancing across the summer night river during the evening festival is dreamlike, and the sight of countless lights reflected on the water is breathtakingly beautiful. On the morning festival the next day, danjiri boats bearing Noh figures travel down the river to the music of flutes and drums.

The Sunari Festival belongs to the Tennō faith centered on Tsushima Shrine as its head shrine, praying for the dispelling of plague and good health. Its great distinction is its use of the river as its main stage, embodying the festival culture unique to a water-country region. In the "miyoshi nagashi," reeds onto which people's impurities have been transferred are set adrift on the river to perform purification. Conducted over a long period, this festival is a precious intangible cultural heritage conveying to this day the faith and life of the people of Kanie, who have lived together with the river.