Mifune Matsuri

A set on Mifune Matsuri 02 (Photo credit: aurelio.asiain)

Mifune Matsuri #58 (Photo credit: Christian Kaden)

Guiding a boat during a festival. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Mifune Matsuri is a festival held in annually in May to celebrate Kiyohara Yorinari, who was a 12th century Confucian scholar. Mifune Matsuri means 'Festival of the Three Boats'.  Every year during this festival his soul is taken for a walk! His spirit is lead into a portable shrine known as a 'mikoshi' and then lead to a temporary shine on the bank of the Oi river.

A beautiful ritual is then held to transfer Kiyohara Yorinari's soul into a boat known as 'gozabune'. Everyone is dressed in ancient attire and then they head along the Togetsukyo Bridge to board the boats. Their costumes are usually very eye catching and even little children will be dressed up in kimonos for the event.

 Kiyohara Yorinari's boat is taken to the middle of the Oi river where it is parked for two or three hours. The other ships carrying artists and the like then pay their respects by approaching the boat and dancing or reading poetry or some other form of entertainment. Every boat has a niche role, a boat will be carrying musicians who play music, while dancers are on a separate boat and so on.

After all this excitement Kiyohara's soul is transfered to another temporary resting place to recover from the festival before the trip home.

Related articles

• My first festival, Mifune Matsuri
• Shingu Mifune Matsuri (Day 2)
• Festivals in Japan (日本の祭り)