"I've never seen so many bums in my life!" a.k.a Hakata Gion Yamakasa Festival

Becky Cresswell
Jul 25, 2016
3 min read

I suppose first of all I should explain the title of this post…no I didn’t go to some weird sex festival (though that does exist in Japan!) and no I didn't weirdly stare at peoples bums…much. Anyway I digress.

IT'S MATSURI SEASON IN JAPAN! And boy do Japanese people know how to put on a good festival!

From the biggest and craziest events to the smallest local parties Japanese festivals (matsuri) are a great experience. Most consist of stalls upon stalls of great street food and desserts, beer and ice cream, children's games and a performance or two. But every now and again comes along a matsuri that grabs you by the throat, runs you over with a massive float carried by half naked men and shouts "THIS IS HOW YOU DO A FESTIVAL!" right in your face.

I present to you, Hakata Gion Yamakasa.

Let me explain.

Hakata (once a city in it's own right) is in the central part of Fukuoka city. It has shopping centres, a main shinkansen train line in the huge Hakata Station and most of the big businesses headquarters- basically Hakata is where stuff happens. But every year at the start of July traditional decorations fill the streets, festival chants ring in the air and possibly one of the best matsuri in Japan gets under way.

The festival itself is a traditional race through 5km of Hakata by each of the 7 districts. Each district has a race team and a massive decorated float called the kakiyama that they carry round the course in a bid to be the fastest…and rub it in everyone's face for a year I guess. Aside from that the even larger yamakasa floats are placed in popular spots around the city for a few weeks to show off. At over 10 feet tall and weighing 2 tons they really are impressive. These bad boys used to be the race floats but things like power lines and old 'elf and safety put a stop to that. Boo. But still, all the floats big and small are decorated with folklore, popular characters and bright colours so you don't miss out on much.

You're probably thinking "okay that's cool and all but that doesn't sound earth shattering-ly amazing?

What makes this festival so good then?"

Did I mention this crazy race takes place at 5am through the streets as thousands of locals and tourists line the roads in support? Or that people throw buckets of water and hose the teams as they run by? Or that all the teams wear traditional festival wear (think sumo wrestler wearing a shirt) whether it's an 80 year old man or a 5 year old child and leg it through the streets in the hundreds? Or that it’s a full blown party at stupid-o'clock in the morning where you can get drunk, stuff your face and shout "OISSA!" like a mad person with everyone else? There you go, now you get the idea.

Basically, it is possibly the craziest thing I have ever seen. And I've seen a pushchair full of cats here before. No joke.

If you get a chance to experience this madness (or any matsuri really) definitely go and enjoy it! It will sweep you up into a world of bright colours, loud noises and great atmosphere and might even make you forget that it’s the middle of summer and you're sweating to death. Or is that just me?

As a bonus here's some short clips I took of the race, bear in mind we were standing on a quiet street corner as the main sections of the course were too crowded to even get near!