Owari Tsushima Tenno Festival (Owari Tsushima Tenno Matsuri) | Tsushima City | Aichi Prefecture | Official Site | Sightseeing Information | Directions | Parking | Details | AichiNow-OFFICIAL SITE FOR TOURISM AICHI

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Tsushima-City Owari Tsushima Tenno Festival & Fireworks
(Owari Tsushima Tenno Matsuri)

Date : 07/22/2023, 07/23/2023


  • Owari Tsushima Tenno Festival & Fireworks (Owari Tsushima Tenno Matsuri)
  • Owari Tsushima Tenno Festival & Fireworks (Owari Tsushima Tenno Matsuri)
  • Owari Tsushima Tenno Festival & Fireworks (Owari Tsushima Tenno Matsuri)
  • Owari Tsushima Tenno Festival & Fireworks (Owari Tsushima Tenno Matsuri)
  • Owari Tsushima Tenno Festival & Fireworks (Owari Tsushima Tenno Matsuri)

A rare, dream-like aura experienced only at the Owari Tsushima Tenno Festival

The 500-year-old Owari Tsushima Tenno Festival was the favorite festival of samurai and first great unifier of Japan, Oda Nobunaga. This festival is one of Japan's three major river festivals and surely among the biggest, most spectacular, and beautiful of all summer festivals. Staged on Tsushima's Tenno River, the Owari Tsushima Tenno Festival is designated a National Important Intangible Folk Cultural Asset. In addition, it was one of the 33 Japanese festivals added as joint entry "Yama, Hoko, Yatai, Float Festivals in Japan" to the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage for Humanity of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on November 30, 2016.
The Tsushima area is also famous for its autumn and wisteria festivals, with equally long histories and traditions. But it is the fourth Saturday of July, the night of the Yoi Matsuri Night Festival, and the celebrations that continue the next day with the Asa Matsuri, or Morning Festival, that really draw in the crowds.

Lighting up the night

Owari Tsushima Tenno Festival (Owari Tsushima Tenno Matsuri)

The Owari Tsushima Tenno Festival begins with exciting antique samurai matchlock gun firing demonstrations, followed by tezutsu hanabi, or hand-held fireworks resembling upright bazookas, which send shafts of fire, sparks and smoke tens of meters into the evening air. Singing and dancing take place before the highlight begins. Five large and graceful traditional makiwara boats, made of two boats roped together and decorated with over 400 large paper lanterns arranged in a dome-like shape, glide along the Tenno River to the sounds of festival flutes and drums. The reflections of the hundreds of lanterns in the dark, calm waters add to the ethereal effect.
The dome shaped arrangement features 365 lanterns, one for each day of the year, and a further 12 or 13 lanterns towering above it. Under the orange-yellow dome of lanterns hang a further 30 red lanterns, with more lanterns decorating the bow of this fantastic, floating festival float.

Many come dressed in light summer kimono called "yukata" to watch from the riverside. Others enjoy a meal, drinks, and entertainment in smaller boats. All the while, cameras click as the lantern boats sail by, and fantastic fireworks burst like thunder in the sky above.

The Morning Festival

Owari Tsushima Tenno Festival (Owari Tsushima Tenno Matsuri)

The next morning, the same five boats are redecorated with gorgeous red, black, and gold hand-woven tapestries and mannequins dressed in traditional Noh performing arts costumes. These boats are joined by a sixth, also decorated with dolls. Ten men armed with halberd-like samurai weapons take part in a ritual, in which they dive off the boat with the halberd, and swim or walk to shore to present the broad bladed pole-arm to the gods of the Tsushima Jinja Shrine.

Like most Japanese festivals, the Owari Tsushima Tenno Festival is filled with various displays, events, food, and enjoyment.

If you find yourself in Japan in late July, be sure to visit Tsushima for one of Japan's biggest and most spectacular festivals, the Owari Tsushima Tenno Festival.

EVENT OVERVIEW

  • Souvenirs
  • Parking
  • Restaurant
Date : Night Festival: Sat, Jul 22, 2023
Morning Festival: Sun, Jul 23, 2023
Holding time : Night Festival: 6:00 pm
Morning Festival: 9:10 am
Place : Tsushima Jinja Shrine and Tennogawa Park
Location : 〒496-0853
1 Miyagawa-cho, Tsushima-shi, Aichi (Tennogawa Park)
〒496-0851
1 Shinmei-cho, Tsushima-shi, Aichi (Tsushima Jinja Shrine)
Parking : Temporary parking lot available, free of charge (limited capacity).
Visitors are strongly advised to use public transportation whenever possible, especially on Sunday, due to extensive road blocks and traffic congestion surrounding the venues.
Restrooms : Available
Phone number : 0567-28-8051 (Tsushima City Tourist Association)
0567-55-9663 (Tsushima City Hall)

Note: This page may not be current due to update time differences between site databases.
Should accuracy be critical, please verify this information using a direct source, whenever possible.

ACCESS

  • Access by public transport
    Access by public transport
    20-min. walk west from Tsushima Station on the Meitetsu Tsushima Line / Meitetsu Bisai Line. (From Nagoya Station, take either the Meitetsu Nagoya Line train bound for Inuyama/Gifu and change trains at Sukaguchi Station, or take either the Kintetsu Nagoya Line or JR Kansai Main Line and change trains at Yatomi Station.)
  • Access by car
    Access by car
    • Using the Higashi-Meihan Expressway (from Mie Prefecture, or from Nagoya Expressway R5 Manba Route): approx. 15 min. (6.6 km) north from Yatomi Interchange via Route 155.
    • Using the Tokai-Hokuriku Expressway (from Gifu Prefecture): approx. 35 min. (18.7 km) south from Bisai Interchange via Routes 148 and 155.
    • Using the Tokai-Hokuriku Expressway (from the Meishin Expressway): approx. 30 min. (16.8 km) south from Ichinomiya-Nishi Interchange via Route 155.

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KeywordKeyword
#Owari Tsushima Tenno Matsuri
#Owari Tsushima Tenno Festival
#Tsushima
#Tsushima Shrine
#Tsushima Jinja Shrine
#Tennogawa Park
#Fireworks
#UNESCO
#Intangible Cultural Heritage

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