Kishiwada Danjiri Festival ”だんじり”

September 19 – September 20

The Kishiwada Danjiri Matsuri in Kishiwada City, southern Osaka, is one of Japan’s largest and most famous danjiri festivals.

At the heart of the festival are enormous traditional wooden floats, known as danjiri, intricately carved and decorated with elaborate ornaments. Designed in the style of shrines or temples, some floats are so large that they require teams of up to 500 people to pull them through the streets.

The festival’s most thrilling spectacle is the high-speed procession through Kishiwada’s narrow streets. Standing atop each danjiri is the daiku-gata, the person responsible for directing the float. As the team races forward, the daiku-gata performs an energetic dance, leaping and moving to the rhythm of the music while urging the team on. Their daring performance is one of the festival’s most unforgettable highlights.