Karatsu Kunchi

Karatsu Kunchi is the autumn grand festival of Karatsu Shrine, held each year in Karatsu city, Saga Prefecture, on Kyūshū. The shrine reads the name as an "offering day", a festival where the autumn harvest is offered to the gods in thanks for good crops, while noting that other explanations exist.

The festival centres on hikiyama floats. 14 survive today, out of 15 that were made, and they are drawn by teams from families of Karatsu's 14 traditional neighbourhoods. The floats take shapes such as samurai helmets, sea bream and dragons.

The festival is expected to take place from 2 to 4 November 2026. These dates come from a fixed yearly pattern and have not been confirmed yet, so check with the organiser, Karatsu Shrine, before planning travel.

The deity is moved into a portable shrine and sets out from Karatsu Shrine, processing through the town. The floats follow it to Nishi-no-hama, the beach where the deity is said to have manifested.

The shrine describes a rite called the Otabisho-sai as the largest ritual of Karatsu Kunchi.

The procession of the portable shrine is said to have begun around the Kanbun era, between 1661 and 1673. The floats were made to escort the portable shrine and guard the deity. The present line of floats began in 1819, when Katana-machi, one of the parish districts, offered the Red Lion to the shrine.

Each float is said to have taken about 3 years to make: a wood and clay form covered with hundreds of layers of washi paper, then linen, coats of lacquer and a gold and silver finish.

The floats became a Saga Prefecture Important Tangible Folk Cultural Property in Shōwa 33 (1958). The float event of Karatsu Kunchi became a national Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property in 1980.

According to the shrine, the sight of the puller teams straining to haul the floats as the wheels sink into the sand captivates crowds of onlookers.

Each float weighs 2 to 4 tonnes and is pulled by 200 to 400 people.