Enjoy late summer festival fun at Misawa Matsuri on Aug. 20-23

Misawa Matsuri flyer (Photo by Yoshihito Morita/Stripes Japan)

While the hot days of summer continue, Misawa City is preparing to celebrate a tradition that dates back to 1923, when Furugami District was prone to fire disasters.

According to the Misawa Tourism Association, locals sought the help of Shinto gods by attracting them to three shrines within the district with a parade of colorful dashi floats from each to the center of the district. The gods from Gongen Jinja and Yakushi Jinja visited the god of Fudo Jinja in the center of Misawa City for a three-god meeting and stayed for two nights before they were returned to their home shrines.

The dashi float’s procession has become a Misawa tradition and has been celebrated as “Misawa Matsuri” in late August every year since then.

(Photo by Yoshihito Morita/Stripes Japan)

This year, Misawa City celebrates its 102nd festival with 12 colorful dashi mounts and a lot of mikoshi participating in the traditional processions. Throughout the festival, there are other costume parades, live performances, dancing and more.

(Photo by Yoshihito Morita/Stripes Japan)

About 70,000 people visit and enjoy the festival every year, according to the event provider.

While around 30 people pull each dashi float made up of human figures and flowers in the parade, you can enjoy the sights as well as many food and game booths set up for this three-day festival.

See more information about times and locations of processions and stage events at the event website.

Misawa City is the home of Misawa Air Base.

Don’t miss, but enjoy Misawa’s summer in a traditional way, by joining the spectacular three-day festival!

Misawa Matsuri (festival)