Hidaka Hibuse Festival in April

April 11, 2010

Hidaka Hibuse Festival in April

On every April 28-29, Cute Traditional festival will be held in Oshu city, Iwate.

It's called "Hitaka Kabo sai (or Hitaka hibuse matsuri)" in Japanese, means festival for fire protection.

The Hidaka Hibuse Matsuri creates a beautiful scene in the Mizusawa area with gorgeous hayashi-yatai (festival music floats) representing each of the six neighboring towns in the area.

There is these six towns, copying after a fire-fighting system called “Edo Iroha-gumi” which developed in Edo (present day Tokyo) during Edo Period, each make offerings to Hidaka Shrine to pray for safety from fire accidents.

Each hayashi-yatai is built in gold, vermilion and green decoration carrying 20-25 girls playing ohayashi music which is distinctively different from one town to another.

The climax of the festival is the “aiuchi” performance on the second evening which the floats show a brilliant competition of traditional music.

[Dates]April 28 (Sat) – April 29 (Sun)

[Time]4/28 around 15:00-21:004/29 around noon-21:00 (climax 19:00)

[Place]Centeral Mizusawa AreaMizusawa Area, Oshu City, Iwate Prefecture

[Access from Tokyo] From JR Tokyo Station take JR Shinkansen (bullet train) Yamabiko to JR Ichinoseki Station and transfer to JR Tohoku Honsen. Get off at JR Mizusawa Station. 5 to 10-min-walk.

[Inquiry]0197-24-2111 (Hidaka Hibuse Matsuri Executive Committee)

[URL]http://www.city.oshu.iwate.jp/icity/browser?ActionCode=content&ContentID=1141960771195&SiteID=0 (Oshu City, Hibuse Matsuri information page, Japanese)

http://www.bunka.pref.iwate.jp/dentou/maturi/maturi/maturi_003.html (Iwate Prefecture Official Website, Japanese. Picture and movies available)