Autumn Festivals
Autumn Festivals are filled with chances to see and experience traditional Japanese culture. Cultural events featuring Dashi floats and Bo-no-Te martial arts demonstrations are held in various places around Toyota.
- Every October, the main festival is held on the second Sunday, with a rehearsal festival the day before, on Saturday. The rehearsal festival, called Shiraku-sai, features a portable shrine procession called Mikoshi Togyo to pray for the people's happiness and a martial arts-based dance called Bo-no-Te.
In the Mikoshi Togyo procession, visitors can witness the otherworldly sight of large, elaborate portable shrines being carried through the darkness by torchlight in a solemn religious ceremony.
The main festival, called Hongaku-sai, features Bo-no-Te and Miko-mai dance performances.
Bo-no-Te uses staves, swords, spears, sickles and more in a farmer's martial art that has been passed down since the Muromachi period (approximately 1336-1573). It is now performed to pray for a bountiful harvest.
The roots of the Sanage Festival are said to date back to the late 16th century. At its peak, it is said to have gathered offerings of horses and Bo-no-Te performances from 186 villages spanning the provinces of Owari, Mikawa, and Mino. There were Bo-no-Te competitions on shrine grounds but conflicts were commonplace, leading to the festival being called the "fighting festival."
- The Asuke Festival is held by Asuke Hachimangu Shrine. The main hall was rebuilt in 1466 and is designated as an important cultural property. This festival has been held since the mid 1700s and remains largely unchanged today. Four festival floats are paraded around the street. The event used to last for five days, but has now been contracted to two days. On Saturday is the pre-festival and on Sunday is the main festival. On Saturday night you will see a portable shrine paraded after a parade of lanterns goes past. The shrine makes its way through the town.
- Each year, the main festival is held on the third Sunday of October, with the rehearsal festival held the day before. Large floats are pulled through town and the Shichido Mairi event is held at night at the Koromo Shrine for the rehearsal festival. For the main festival, the floats gather in the shrine and fireworks light up the sky over the Yahagi River at night.
- Obara kabuki started in the mid-Edo Period when villagers performed the play as an offering to the local shrine. Today, it is held twice a year in May and October at the Obara Koryukan hall and billed as “The Obara-za.”