Uozu Tatemon Festival

The Tatemon Festival is a summer ritual held each year on the first Friday and Saturday of August at Suwa Shrine in Uozu City, Toyama Prefecture. A valiant festival distinctive to the fishing town of Uozu, it prays for safety at sea and bountiful catches. Said to have a history of more than 300 years, it was inscribed in 2016 as the "Uozu no Tatemon Gyoji" on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, as part of the "Yama, Hoko, Yatai float festivals in Japan." It is also designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Japan—a precious traditional event.

The festival's centerpiece, the "tatemon," is a giant illuminated structure consisting of a great pole about 16 meters tall from which some 90 lanterns are suspended. Its form recalls the mast of a sailing ship—a fitting design for a seaside town. Weighing about five tons in total, the tatemon is mounted on a sled-like base without wheels and hauled into the grounds of Suwa Shrine by throngs of young men shouting spirited chants.

The greatest highlight is the "rotating dedication," in which the young men vigorously spin the lantern-lit tatemon within the shrine grounds. The sight of 90 lanterns glowing in the dark night, tracing circle after circle as they whirl, is at once dreamlike and powerful, captivating all who watch. Uniting the strength of the men of the sea with the beauty of the lights, it is truly the climax of the festival.

Facing Toyama Bay and long prosperous through fishing, Uozu is home to people who have lived alongside the sea. The Tatemon Festival, handed down with gratitude and prayers to the gods, is a crystallization of the region's faith and way of life—and a leading summer tradition of the Hokuriku region.