Takaoka Mikurumayama Matsuri Festival and the Mikurumayama ritual
1 May, Takaoka (Toyama prefecture)
Takaoka Mikurumayama ritual originated from the historical event, in which local Sengoku warlord Toshihisa Maeda distributed the festival float called “Mikurumayama” to the people in the town surrounding Takaoka castle, and the floats were put in the part of parade of Mikoshi portable shrine during spring festival of Sekino Shrine.
The Mikurumayama Matsuri Festival consists of several rituals, which are Yoshibei Matsuri Festival (the meeting between towns) on 3 April, Yama Kazari and Hayashi Kata Shiraku (The rehearsal for the main music event) on 30 April, and Mikurumayama Soroe (the arrangement of festival floats) and Houei and Mikoshi Togyo (Portable shrine parade) on 1st May.
Mikurumayama are the special floats (Hikiyama) equipped with various features to welcome divine spirits, such as a central pillar, flower decorations and baskets. The day before the main rituals, each Mikurumayama float is decorated with suitable puppets and flowers fitting for its theme, and after the floats invite and enshrine each divinity, they parade around the town in a set route every year, according to ancient custom.
Although 7 Mikurumayama festival floats are already classified as Important Folk Cultural Property of Japan, the ritual and parade of Mikurumayama itself is also not only one of the largest float festivals in this region but also has unique features in its context. In short, this festival is defined as the one of representative models of floats festival in Japan.
- Organizer:
- Takaoka Mikurumayama Hozonkai
- Contact Details
- 〒484-0082
- Toyama Takaoka Moriyama-cho 47-1
- Takaoka Mikurumayama Kaikan
- TEL：0766-30-2497
- Website
- Takaoka Mikurumayama Hozonkai
- http://www.mikurumayama.jp/
- Takaoka Mikurumayama Kaikan
- https://mikurumayama-kaikan.jp/
