If you find yourself in Kyushu at the beginning of November, I recommend making the journey to the small coastal city of Karatsu – ninety minutes west of Fukuoka by train. For three days from the 2nd of the month, the streets give way to fourteen large floats called hikiyama, being pulled by groups of locals, in what is called the Karatsu Kunchi.
Day one is an evening procession. On the second day, we follow a slightly different route ending up at the beach with hundreds of people yanking the floats through deep sand. The third is a final procession through the streets back to the floats’ resting place for the rest of the year (they remain on show in a local warehouse).
The streets were absolutely packed, the town heaving with mostly internal Japanese tourists (I saw maybe a dozen western faces across the three days). The city’s central grid is lined with street food and drink, all leading toward the main Karatsu Shrine. Don’t forget to pick up your map from the tourist information at the train station, which shows the routes each procession will follow and approximate timings for when floats will appear where. Invaluable for photographers planning their shots.
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If you find yourself in Kyushu at the beginning of November, I recommend making the journey to the small coastal city of Karatsu – ninety minutes west of Fukuoka by train. For three days from the 2nd of the month, the streets give way to fourteen large floats called hikiyama, being pulled by groups of locals, in what is called the Karatsu Kunchi.
Day one is an evening procession. On the second day, we follow a slightly different route ending up at the beach with hundreds of people yanking the floats through deep sand. The third is a final procession through the streets back to the floats’ resting place for the rest of the year (they remain on show in a local warehouse).
The streets were absolutely packed, the town heaving with mostly internal Japanese tourists (I saw maybe a dozen western faces across the three days). The city’s central grid is lined with street food and drink, all leading toward the main Karatsu Shrine. Don’t forget to pick up your map from the tourist information at the train station, which shows the routes each procession will follow and approximate timings for when floats will appear where. Invaluable for photographers planning their shots.