Elements
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Manage No, Sortation, Country, Writer ,Date, Copyright Manage No EE00000195 Country Japan ICH Domain Social practices, rituals, festive events Address The float festivals are held in various regions throughout Japan. This nomination encompasses 33 representative float festivals that are registered in the National Inventory. These festivals take place in the following cities and towns (prefecture name in parentheses): Hachinohe City (Aomori), Senboku City, Akita City, Kazuno City (Akita), Shinjo City (Yamagata), Hitachi City (Ibaraki), Nasukarasuyama City, Kanuma City (Tochigi), Chichibu City, Kawagoe City (Saitama), Katori City (Chiba), Takaoka City, Uozu City, Nanto City (Toyama), Nanao City (Ishikawa), Takayama City, Hida City, Ogaki City (Gifu), Tsushima City/Aisai City, Chiryu City, Inuyama City, Handa City, Kanie Town (Aichi), Yokkaichi City, Iga City, Kuwana City (Mie), Nagahama City (Shiga), Kyoto City (Kyoto), Fukuoka City, Kitakyushu City (Fukuoka), Karatsu City (Saga), Yatsushiro City (Kumamoto), Hita City (Oita).
| Description | Float festivals are communal festive events in which all members of the communities get together to pray for peace in the communities and protection from disasters. At the heart of the festivals is the procession of floats bearing creative decorations that showcase the diversity of local cultures. Community members derive their pride and identity from the float festivals that are the biggest single festive event of the year for them. The oldest float festival dates back to the 9th century, but most of the festivals began after the 17th century and spread to various regions. Local people in these regions then modified the festivals with their own creativity. Floats are huge constructs pulled or shouldered by members of communities. They are inhabited by the gods honored in the festivals or are meant to entertain and appease these gods. The techniques of making and repairing floats have been transmitted for centuries by craftsmen such as carpenters, lacquer artisans and dyers. Furthermore, efforts are made to preserve the natural environment when securing materials for the floats; these sustainable methods have been handed down through many generations. The festivals’ most significant feature is the communities’ devotion to the preparation and celebration of the festivals. Community members including men, women, the young and the elders share their tasks and responsibilities all year around preparing for the float festivals, the most important event of the year for them. Float festivals therefore foster communication and teamwork between community members, and play vital roles in uniting them. |
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| Social and cultural significance | The float festival lies at the heart of the lives of all members of the concerned community as the main event of each region. The members live with and for the festival all year long; they reserve funds for the float festivals, hold meetings and practice traditional music, dance and sometimes puppet theatre that are performed at festivals. The float festivals also have significance in the spiritual lives of the community members as sources of their vitality. In order to successfully prepare for and celebrate the festivals, each member of the communities takes charge of his/her specific role and works together. Such cooperation creates bonds within the communities that transcend age, status and gender. The float festivals therefore fulfill the social functions of uniting all community members and allowing them to reaffirm their identities as members of the community every year. For example, in the area hit by the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 2011, the Hitachi Furyumono festival reunited the community members scattered to different areas when evacuating. The case clearly demonstrates how the element reaffirms the ties among the community devastated by the disaster. The floats that are the main attractions of the festivals are symbols of local cultures. In order to preserve the floats, craftsmen such as carpenters, metalworkers, lacquer artisans, dyers and weavers make full use of their skills. Transmission of the element, therefore, also contributes to preserving and improving the techniques of related craftsmen, and to refining the artistry that the floats embody. |
| Transmission method | All members of the community look forward to and practice the float festivals. By participating in festivals every year since adolescence, the members of the community master knowledge and skills, and the element is thus transmitted smoothly to the next generations. During the annual festivals, senior bearers teach future bearers the knowledge and skills related to the festivals; the younger bearers learn the necessary knowledge and skills by performing tasks suited to their ages. By the time they are adults, they will have acquired most of the knowledge and skills. In this way, traditions are being passed from one generation to the next in all communities. In the Ueno Tenjin Festival, for example, children play festival music as Hayashikata: elementary-schoolers play small gongs, middle-schoolers and high-schoolers play Taiko drums, and only high school graduates are allowed to play flutes. Those who graduate from Hayashikata become Tekogata who steer floats. Finally, those with many years of experience as Tekogata become Keigoyaku who guard the floats or Saihaiyaku who manage the entire festival. Since the 1950s, local safeguarding associations have been playing a leading role within the communities in promoting the transmission of the knowledge and skills of their float festivals. For example, they have planned and held workshops to teach youths in local communities about the procedures of the festivals and classes where children can learn to play festival music. |
| Community | The bearers and practitioners of the float festivals are all inhabitants of the 33 cities/towns. In particular, the members of the local safeguarding associations aiming to create organized efforts to safeguard the festivals play the core role. The float festivals’ main characteristic is that they are practiced by a wide range of local community members, namely the inhabitants of the entire cities/towns. In each region, community members hold meetings throughout the year in order to decide how the next festivals will be managed and how specific roles will be assigned to respective inhabitants. In the Takaoka Mikurumayama Festival, for example, townspeople who live in the centre of the city assemble the floats and the people from the surrounding areas pull the floats and play the festival music. The festivals are planned in a way that reflects the diversity of ages among members of the local communities and includes all genders. Some core bearers of the festivals formed local safeguarding associations within their communities following the 1950s, as populations in many regions of Japan have aged and declined. They have taken responsibility to ensure the transmission of the festivals to future generations by planning and implementing safeguarding measures. In 1979, these local safeguarding associations came together to establish the National Association for the Preservation of Float Festivals, which has since created a network for the local safeguarding associations with a view to encouraging better communication and coordination between and among the associations so that the float festivals be more efficiently safeguarded. |
| Type of UNESCO List | Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity |
| Incribed year in UNESCO List | 2016 |