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Kishiwada Danjiri Festival ”だんじり”

September 14 – September 15

The Kishiwada Danjiri Matsuri in Kishiwada city in the south of Osaka.

The festival is the biggest and most famous “danjiri matsuri” in Japan. A danjiri is a traditional Japanese wooden float that has elaborate carvings and is decorated with various ornaments. Some of the floats are so large that they are pulled by up to 500 team members. The wooden floats are made in the shape of a shrine or temple and are pulled through the streets of a neighbourhood during festival days.

The highlight of the festival has to be the elaborate floats that are pulled through the narrow streets of Kishiwada at high-speeds. The daiku-gata is given the privilege of standing a top the danjiri and is the star of the show, hopping and dancing wildly to the music as if to energize and urge the team on to victory. They are the person in charge of controlling the float and their dance performance is a sight not to be missed.