{Inter} Cultural Japan

2nd Sat. Oct. - First Sun. of Dec. Kyoto: Ginkakuji: Special opening of the Hojo (Abbot’s Quarters), Togudo and Roseitei Pavilion.
Information: Office of Jisho-ji (Ginkaku-ji) 075-771-5725 (Japanese only)
Access: Short walk from Ginkakujimichi bus stop (bus 5 from Kyoto St)

Oct. 1, Munakata (Fukuoka Pref., Kyushu): Kaijo Jinko-sai, Munakata Taisha.
The Kaijo Jinko or Procession of Gods by the Sea is held on the first day of the Autumn Festival of the Munakata Taisha Shrine. The Munakata Shrine is dedicated to the guardian deity of sea traffic and consists in fact of three shrines: Okitsumiya, Nakatsumiya and Hetsumiya, of which the first two stand on islands before the coast. Visitors go to Hetsumiya, the only shrine on land. During the festival, hundreds of fishing boats decorated with flags and banners parade from Okinoshima Island with the Okitsumiya Shrine and Oshima Island with the Nakatsumiya Shrine to Konominato, the harbor near Hetsumiya Shrine. They escort a barge that carries the portable shrine. It is an impressive spectacle .
Information: Munakata Taisha Shrine Office 0940-62-1311
Access: Take a Nishitetsu bus for Kohnominato Hatoba at JR Togo Station of the Kagoshima Main Line and get off at Konominato.

Oct. 4, Kyoto: Kankosai of Zuiki Matsuri. Harvest Thanksgiving at Kitano Tenmangu.
On Oct. 1 at 13:00 sacred floats are carried to a temporary abode (otabisho); on Oct. 4 at 13:00 they are brought back to the main shrine by a parade of people dressed in Heian costumes. This, the Kankosai, is the main part of the Zuiki Festival. The festival derives its name from zuiki, or taro stalks, which are used as thatch for the roof of the mikoshi; the miniature shrine is dressed in other vegetables as well, and dried marigolds hang from the four corners.
Information: Kitano Tenmangu Shrine 075-461-0005
Access: City Bus 5O or 101 from Kyoto Station; or bus 201 from Demachiyanagi Station to Kitano Tenmangu-mae.

October 4-6, Nihonmatsu (Fukushima Pref.): Nihonmatsu Lantern festival
Annual festival of Nihonmatsu Jinja. Seven floats strung with hundreds of paper lanterns are paraded through the town.
Information: Nihonmatsu Tourism Association 0243-23-1111
Access: 5-minute walk from Nihonmatsu St. on the Tohoku Line

October 13-15, Sawara (Chiba Pref.): Sawara festival
Fourteen floats with huge moving dolls representing figures from history and legend are paraded through the city from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Access: From Sawara Station, walk 5 minutes to Omatsuri Hiroba and Nigiwai Hiroba.

October 10, Niu-Jinja (Wakayama Pref.): Warai Festival
Traditional dances and a laughing or warai preformance where participants laugh to the jangle of small bells.
Information: 0738-53-0630
Access:10 min taxi from JR Wasa St.

Oct. 7-9, Nagasaki: Okunchi, Suwa Shrine.
Parade of umbrella-topped floats. A Chinese-style dragon dance is also held. Okunchi is okunichi, “ninth day,” the ninth day of the ninth month according to the lunar calendar.

Oct. 9-10, Takayama: Hachiman Matsuri. Annual festival of the Sakurayama Hachimangu Shrine. On October 10 there is a parade of mikoshi and people in traditional costume.

Second Monday in Oct., nationwide. Sports Day (Taiiku no Hi).
Established to commemorate the opening of the Olympic Games in 1964. A busy day for Japanese kids and their parents, as schools nationwide organize athletic competitions (Undokai). Note the late date for Olympic Games, which were held from Oct. 10 to 24 to avoid the rainy season and summer heat. October usually has fair weather.

October 14, Ana-Hachimangu Shrine, Tokyo: Yabusame
Demonstrations of yabusame, the ancient Japanese art of horseback archery. The Tokugawa shogunate set up an archery field near the Ana-Hachimangu shrine in Takata-no-baba in the early 17th c. In 1728, they started holding yabusame performances dedicated to Hachiman, the deity of the shrine and incidentally also the God of War.
Information: Takata-no-Baba Yabusame Hozon-Kai 03-3203-7212.
Access: Metropolitan Toyama Park, 2-3 blocks from Waseda St. on the Tozai Line. Starts at 14:00. (At 13:00 an opening ceremony is held in the shrine).

Oct. 11-12, Otsu: Otsu Matsuri.
Parade of floats (starting at 9:00 at Tenson Jinja) through town on the 12th; floats on view hung with lanterns in the evening of the 10th.

Oct. 10, Kyoto: Ushi Matsuri (Bull Festival), Koryuji.
Ancient festival. In the evening (20:30-) the Madara deity riding a bull enters the temple grounds, accompanied by Nio (Deva Kings) and people dressed in ancient costume. The deity then reads Buddhist sutras from a stage, with the Deva Kings as a chorus. When finished, all quickly flee the scene.

Mid Oct. - mid Nov., Kyoto: Kamogawa odori.
Autumn dances by the geisha of Pontocho.

October 10-17, Ginza, Tokyo: Dai Ginza Matsuri.
Parades, bazaars and bands fill the streets around the Ginza.

October 13, Osaka: Midosuji Parade
On Midosuji Avenue. Music and dance from all over the world.

14-15 October, Himeji; Nada Fighting Festival
One of the Kansai’s boisterous fighting festivals, which is believed to please the gods. Young men in loin cloths carrying portable shrines battle to reach the bell in the courtyard of the Matsubara Shrine.

October 14-19, Shirakawago (Gifu Pref.): Doburoku Festival
Harvest festival. Visitors can enjoy doboroku, a milky-white home-brewed sake.

Mid-October, Nagoya: Nagoya Festival
Nagoya’s biggest festival. Parade of large floats with people dressed in period costumes and down Otsu dori celebrates Japan’s three unifiers of the late 16th c: Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu. There is also yabusame (horseback archery) in the Atsuta Shrine.

Third weekend in October, Kawagoe: Kawagoe Matsuri.
Parade of tall floats and mikoshi, which end up taking part in a hikkawase ceremony in which they are crashed in to each other. The full festival only takes place once every two years.

Oct. 16-18, Tokyo: Festival of Kishibojin Temple. Oct. 17, Nikko: Autumn Festival, Toshogu Shrine.
Also called Sennin Musha Gyortesu or Procession of a Thousand warriors. Reneacts the 1617 procession in which the remains of Tokugawa ieyasu were brought from Kunozan in Shizuoka to Nikko.

Oct. 22 - Nov. 22, Nara: Unveiling of the Guze Kannon statue in Horyuji (Yumedono).

Oct. 22, Kyoto: Jidai Matsuri, Heian Shrine.
A modern festival, as it only started in 1895. Features a procession of people dressed in historical costume or representing historical personages, working back from the Meiji Restoration to the Heian period. Starts at noon at the Imperial palace after which the parade winds its way through the city to the Heian Shrine.

Oct. 22, Kyoto: Kurama Fire Festival (Hi-Matsuri), Yuki Shrine.
At nightfall, two mikoshi of the Yuki Shrine (belonging to Kuramadera) are paraded among crowds holding torches. The whole area is transformed into a sea of fire.

23-25 October, Sugawara Oct. 23-25, Iga-Ueno (Mie Pref.): Ueno Tenjin Matsuri
Parade of mikoshi and dancers led by 100 people dressed as oni (demons) wearing comical masks.

Oct. 25 - Nov. 10, Nara: Unveiling of Eleven-faced Kannon Statue in Hokkeji Temple.