Hakata Gion Yamakasa

Hakata Gion Yamakasa is a Japanese festival held in Hakata, Fukuoka, with its festivities centred on Kushida Shrine. It is known for its Kakiyama floats, each weighing roughly one ton, which are raced as they are carried through the city.

The main event today is the Oiyama, a race between Hakata's districts.

The festival is expected to take place from 1 to 15 July 2027, following a fixed yearly pattern; these dates are estimated and have not yet been confirmed. It is organised by the Hakata Gion Yamakasa Promotion Association. No access details are given in the information available, so check the organisers' announcements before planning a visit.

The festival's origin is disputed. One theory, from Kushida Shrine tradition, has it starting soon after the Gion deity was enshrined in 941. Another, based on the earliest written record, dates it to 1432. The promotion association adopts a widely known theory among several: that it began in 1241, when Shoichi Kokushi sprinkled prayer water from a segaki platform to ward off an epidemic.

As background, Toyotomi Hideyoshi split Hakata into 7 districts in 1586/1587, and soon afterwards each district's carrying of its float turned into a contest of speed.

According to the Kushida Shakan record, a 1687 quarrel between the Ebisu and Doi districts led Ebisu to run past Doi at the summer festival, and this is said to have grown into the Oiyama race. Floats of around 12 metres were once carried slowly. Carried and display floats were once the same, but they were separated in 1898 because power lines had spread so widely in Hakata that large floats could no longer be carried through the streets.