Sawara Festival Tours and Travel

Special feature on Japanese festivals and seasonal customs

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Sawara Grand Festival

UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage

300 years of tradition!
Kanto three biggest "float festivals"!

The Sawara Grand Festival is one of the three major float festivals Kanto, and its tradition spanning approximately 300 years has been designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Japan.
The main body of the float, made entirely of zelkova wood, is decorated with heavy Kanto carvings of lions, dragons and other objects, and the top is decorated with a large doll up to 4 meters in height, created by a master puppeteer from the Edo and Meiji periods.

With the sound of Sawara Bayashi, one of Japan's three great musical accompaniments, ringing out throughout the town, the floats pass under the eaves of houses as they make their way through the streets of Koedo (a nationally designated Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings).
Its charming appearance is reminiscent of the Edo period.