Yahagi Shrine Autumn Grand Festival

Overview

The Yahagi Shrine Autumn Grand Festival is held every October at Yahagi Shrine and around the Yahagi district of Okazaki City, Aichi Prefecture. Originating in the late Edo period, it centers on the procession of festival floats adorned with carvings and lacquer. The two floats are designated tangible folk cultural properties of Okazaki City.

History and Origins

Since the Edo period, four communities of Yahagi—"Higashi-no-kiri" (Ward 1), "Higashinaka-no-kiri" (Ward 2), "Nishinaka-no-kiri" (Ward 3), and "Ue-no-kiri" (Ward 4)—each owned a float and competed in pulling them through the town. It is said that the floats once gathered west of Yahagibashi and, at nightfall, lit their lanterns and entered the shrine in a miyairi procession.

Amid the changes of the times, the number of floats declined. From the late Meiji to early Taisho era the "Ue-no-kiri" float was sold to Yamami in Chita District (now Minamichita Town), where it is still kept as a festival float of the local Hachiman Shrine. The opening of the Aichi Electric Railway line in 1923 made it difficult to parade the "Higashi-no-kiri" float, which was sold to Kariya and later resold to Chiryu City, where it now appears in the Chiryu Festival. Thus the floats paraded today are the two of Wards 2 and 3. The festival was once a summer festival held in mid-July but is now held in October.

Highlights

The two surviving festival floats are both attributed to the master craftsman Shohachi Oyama. The Ward 2 float was built in 1814, with its upper tier constructed and lacquered in 1840; its carver is said to be Jisuke Segawa Shigemitsu. The Ward 3 float was built around 1839, with intricate carvings such as "The Parting of Kusunoki Masashige and His Son," "Bamboo and Tiger," "Lion Dropping into the Valley," and "Flying Dragon Power God" by Jisuke Segawa and his son. The Ward 3 float survived wartime destruction by evacuating its ornaments to Sakurai-ji Temple. The carvings and lacquer on the multi-tiered floats are well worth seeing, and a maiden's dance is dedicated at the kagura hall in the shrine precincts.

Event Information & Access

It is held every October (formerly October 1-2). The venue is Yahagi Shrine and its surroundings in Yahagi-cho, Okazaki City, Aichi Prefecture. The nearest station is Yahagibashi on the Meitetsu Nagoya Main Line. The float procession is not held in some years depending on the calendar, and follows a route passing Yagoto Shrine and Hisoko Shrine along the old Tokaido road.

Around the Venue

Yahagi is a historic place known for Yahagibashi, a post town on the old Tokaido, which prospered as a key crossing of the Yahagi River. Okazaki City is known for Okazaki Castle associated with Tokugawa Ieyasu and as a producer of Hatcho miso, so the festival can be visited together with sightseeing that traces the history of the castle town and the old Tokaido.

Related Information

• Month: October (autumn)
• Prefecture: Aichi (Chubu)
• Venue: Yahagi Shrine and the Yahagi district (Okazaki City)
• Origin: Late Edo period
• Cultural property: Ward 2 and Ward 3 festival floats (Okazaki City tangible folk cultural properties)

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