In Fukuoka, Fall And Winter Is The Time For Festivals, And Also Scarecrows

Fukuoka Prefecture is an ideal place to visit in the fall and winter seasons. Some are held at beautiful shrines and have hundreds upon hundreds of vendors, while others are the stranger kind. Such as the Kakashi Festival, which translates into the Scarecrow Festival!

Summary

Fukuoka prefecture is an ideal place to visit in the fall and winter seasons. There is a wide array of festivals to attend. Some are held at beautiful shrines and have hundreds upon hundreds of vendors, while others are the stranger kind. Such as the Kakashi Festival, which translates into the Scarecrow Festival!

Fall And Winter In Fukuoka Prefecture is A Time With Plenty Of Festivals To Enjoy

Japan is a country that throughout the year has countless festivals; even the individual prefectures have tons of festivals. Moreover, all are made unique by the local community. Fukuoka is a prefecture in Kyushu. It has a lot of beautiful nature, modern urban areas and it is the host to many festivals. In February they celebrate a festival that has been around since the Muromachi period(1336-1573). They still celebrate a festival this old is just amazing

The Tochouji Temple Setsubun

Held once a year since the Muromachi period, the Tochouji Temple Setsubun is a beloved tradition that attracts large crowds every year. On the day of the festival, they bring out the multi-armed Kannon statue, a very important cultural piece. Many worshippers make their way to the festival to see this.
On February 3rd, the day of the Grand Setsubun, they have a bean-throwing ritual. The throwing is done by men born in the corresponding Chinese-zodiac year, referred to as Toshi-Otoko. Alongside all this there are of course vendors and stalls. They sell Fukumame, which translates into lucky beans, there are also lucky charms. Some of them also serve amazake. There is even a lottery for visitors to test their luck.

Hojoya Festival

Another famous festival in the area is the Hojoya Festival. The Festival is held at Hakozakgui shrine in mid-September every year. The festival has a yearly attendance of more than one million people. Initially, the festival was to show respect for everything alive and to prohibit killing. Showing gratitude towards living beings, praying for prosperity in business and family safety are traditions that have been carried on by this festival for more than 1000 years. Alongside, the Shinto rituals of the festival, another big draw are the vendors that line up every year. An estimated 500 stalls set up shop for this festival. Their offerings range from the traditional to the unique. Accompanying classics such as candied apples, yakitori, takoyaki, are the gold fish catching, pin-ball games, and a haunted house. Perhaps the most popular souvenirs at the festival are the Chanpon, glass instruments made by craftsmen, and painted by miko or shrine maidens.

Dazaifu Lantern Festival

At the end of September(around the 23rd-25th), the city is home to a lantern festival. It is held at the Tenmangu shrine and is rather new, 2019 will be the 14th times it is held. During the festival, there are as many as 10,000 lights that have been arranged in patterns all around the shrine. The community is an essential part of the event, and many of the lanterns have been decorated by local school children. There is a different theme every year, and they even have contests the visitors can take part in. One of these contests is a photography contest. They have different categories, landscape and people. The contests are separated, one group for professionals using high resolution cameras, and one group for everyone else. So, there is a chance of winning even if you only use the camera on your phone. In addition to the photo contest, there is also a stamp collecting contest. There are enough stamps at the festival to gather an entire collection.
Moreover, of course, there are souvenirs. Perhaps the best one to get here is a lantern which can be bought for about 1000 yen.

Scarecrows On Every Corner!

So, what is a Scarecrow Festival? Well, that is a great question. During the festival, visitors can take in the spectacle of seeing scarecrows doing seemingly ordinary tasks. Scarecrows are spread all around the area, set up to mimic humans doing human activities. Seeing these imaginative displays will surely make you smile. For most people, scarecrows aren’t a big deal and city dwellers only see them on Halloween or at costume parties. For the part of the population that live a fair distance from densely populated areas, scarecrows are a reasonably common sight, but there is usually only one at a time. Seeing more than that is highly unusual. In the town of Hisayama, there are about one thousand people, but in November the population seemingly increases a bit. Why is that? That is when the Kakashi Matsuri, or scarecrow festival, happens. On the days of the festival, the population increase from one thousand people to more than 1,270. The Hisayama scarecrows are quite a sight. They do not stand in the standard T-pose that we so often see with scarecrows. The population of Hisayama make a big deal of this and their scarecrows can be seen all over town doing all kinds of activities. Some might be relaxing by a street lamp, and others might be having a spirited soccer match, others might be cleaning something. To lend even more realism to these elaborate scarecrow displays, they are all wearing regular clothes, donated by people to liven things up. They set the scarecrows up in a way that tells a story. It is fascinating, and a little unsettling maybe.

Hand-painted Trolleys And Scarecrows In Yamada

Another festival to consider, or two other festivals to consider, would be the Trolley Train Festival and the Kakakshi Festival in Yamada. The Kamiyamada line was abandoned in 1988 and is now the home of the trolley train festival in Yamada. It is an event in which they use a trolley decorated by elementary school pupils, and the trolley travels a 1.5 kilometre distance. While traveling along the abandoned line passenger are treated to the view of 150 scarecrows standing on display in the rice field. As with the Hisayama scarecrow festival, the people of Yamada also take the scarecrow festival quite seriously. Just seeing the presentations from a distance will leave you none the wiser. You need to take a second look to make sure whether you are looking at scarecrows or people. The scarecrows remain on display from the start of October and stand until the end of November. As with most Japanese festivals, there is plenty of good food available for the people that make their way to the festival. Miso soup, curry, udon and freshly-made mochi, all made from locally produced ingredients are among the available refreshments.

Information

https://www.fukuoka-now.com/ja/kakashi-matsuri-guide/
https://feelfukuoka.com/en/event/event0047
https://yokanavi.com/en/festival/
http://www.town.hisayama.fukuoka.jp/infos/detail/143
https://diversity-finder.net/tourism/tochoji-temple-fukuoka