Fast and Furious Festivals: The Kishiwada Danjiri Matsuri

The Kishiwada Danjiri Festival, held every year in September, is fun, fast; full of spectators, and more than a little danger; as well as being a tradition that cements a community together within highly specific and important roles and responsibilities.

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the beginning of the kiss you wanna Don Jaime about to be on Japan’s eternal impact a little bit one of our dangerous festivals we’re going to see 30 people down duty racing through the streets and people balancing precariously on top of a gradient for weather can’t wait despite being internationally famous the key she watered on duty festival is at its heart a festival for the community and a surprisingly deep ritual full of responsibilities participants start young almost as soon as they can walk they are wrapped in the hoppy coats of their team and brought to run behind the 410 floats many have been together since they were three years old during August many of the participants take time off from their jobs to practice the turn through the narrow edo era streets in recent years girls up to high school age are allowed to pull and run with it on duty to their hair is braided into complex designs for the day and they wear protective amulets around their necks which might come in handy at 9:00 a.m. on the second day of the festival the done GD are blessed by Shinto priests of Keshia wat attend Jingu shrine and the team’s pray for a safe day the festival has a legacy of destroyed houses injuries and even deaths hundreds of sprinting people and afloat the weight of a truck are not moving things to stop wooden wheels require some serious power steering round bends and this is when most of the accidents occur spectators congregate along the route and at the main con combi to watch the yachty mawashi corner turns Kawada is rumored to be the most lethal festival in Japan and police and staff are quick to move foolish photographers back behind the barriers paid seats are also set up but for those on a budget there is only a little elbow room in the crowd over three million people come to see Kisha wada every year some simply for the spectacle and others with a strong interest in history yeah the history of casada festival dates back to 1700 3 when the the warlords of casada created a festival to the ancestors and the spirits for an abundant harvest grew very popular because the townspeople were allowed in the castle grounds for a one time a year prohibited and compared spur emerged and that’s going to the the modern game manifestation of what is the cashew Alda kenjiro that’s all today’s it’s busy this definitely a lot of people a these are isn’t the kind of tension but a good tension in the you know everybody’s always waiting for the next thing to come around the corner everybody’s jovial it’s good food and drinks a lot of people drinking beer so it’s tough it’s good what roles are given to the participants depending on their ages young men from 16 to 25 are called sanandana some ride in the done GT playing taiko drums banging not emo no gongs and playing flutes while most are part of the pulling team the wooden breaks that skid done GT around corners are called tech go and the tech o got the men in charge of them are those under 35 years old while the under 40 fibers steer at the front relying on their experience to prevent accidents say one mean ride at the front of the Don duty shouting directions to the runners the most famous and visible role is that of the dike Agathe who rides atop the Dan JT dancing and surfing on its roof as it speeds and spins along the road night Okutama light I knew died Sanju Dino Giovanni Matteo so sweet sadaqa sadaqa para el habla mighty Rio de feu dr. NCO cattle ate a Daigo got an apropos day hi younger boys girls and families pull from the very beginning of the long ropes or follow along behind the ropes themselves are sacred and must never be stepped over powerful energetic and more than a little dangerous the key she waited on duty Mott city has cemented a community together over the generations as each rises to fill their roles and join in rituals learned in their earliest years and they relive it every year together