Iwakawa’s Yagorō-don

Festival highlights

A highlight is the giant figure, finished by adding clothing and a mask to a bamboo-basket-like frame.

When complete, the giant figure stands about 5 meters tall and is raised all at once to the call “Yagorō-don ga okiddō!” and the signal of fireworks.

In the early-afternoon procession, the taiko group, giant figure, large parasol, mikoshi, banners, spears and other ceremonial objects proceed in order, while bearers—mainly children—call out as they pull.

A traditional hamakudari in Iwakawa, led by a 5-meter-tall giant figure

What to expect

The event centers on assembling and parading the giant figure.

At 1 a.m., young men beat taiko and call out to announce the start of assembly throughout the district.

Then, inside the shrine hall, they dress the frame and add a mask, completing it by around 4 a.m. before bringing it out into the shrine grounds.

In the early afternoon, it is paraded from the jinja to an otabisho; after a break, it returns to the jinja, and once the reisai on the 5th is over, the giant figure is dismantled.

Location and access

Venue and address

From Iwakawa Hachiman Jinja to the designated otabisho

Event venue 鹿児島県曽於市 岩川八幡神社から所定の御旅所まで

This map uses the venue name. Check the official guide for the event area and entrances.

Dates and season

Season

From assembly before dawn on November 3 to the reisai and dismantling of the giant figure on November 5

Accommodation and hotels PR

Origins and History of Iwakawa’s Yagorō-don

The Iwakawa festival is believed to have existed in almost its present form since at least the late early-modern period.

The 1843 “Sangoku Meishō Zue” describes a festival in which a giant figure is made and a hamakudari procession is held as a vanguard.

Because the giant figure was once taken to the riverbank, the festival is also called the Hamakudari of Yagorō-don.

Official information

Iwakawa’s Yagorō-don is listed in the Agency for Cultural Affairs’ Database of Nationally Designated Cultural Properties as an “intangible folk cultural property for which measures such as documentation should be undertaken.”

Its category is festival (religious belief) under customs and manners, and the preservation organization is the Yagorō-don Festival Preservation Society.

Iwakawa’s Yagorō-don at a Glance

At Iwakawa’s Yagorō-don festival, a giant figure is assembled in gratitude for the harvest and paraded from the jinja to an otabisho.

The event unfolds in several main stages: the taiko announcement in the middle of the night, assembly until around 4 a.m., raising the figure in the “Yagorō-don Okoshi” ritual, and the hamakudari procession in the early afternoon.

Its hallmarks include a procession accompanied by taiko and a mikoshi, a giant figure about 5 meters tall, and records dating back to the late early-modern period.