Nanao’s autumn festival, where deep crimson frame banners and mikoshi gather
Rokubo Festival
Festival information
EVENT INFORMATION- Season / frequency
- The last Saturday of September each year / Every year
- Location
- Hiyoshi Shrine
- Area
- Ishikawa Prefecture・Nanao City(From Tokyo: approx. 2 h 30 min–3 h · bullet train)Prefecture-level estimate to a main station or airport, not the venue. Airport access, check-in and onward travel are extra; remote areas and islands can take much longer.
- Highlights and activities
- Wishes behind the festival
- Last updated
- 2026/10/19
The Rokubo Festival in Nakajima-cho, Nanao City, is an autumn festival where and frame banners gather at Hiyoshi Shrine from seven settlements. Ceremonial offerings passed down through the community include processions filled with the sound of gongs and drums, Sarutahiko leading the way, and a children’s .
About Rokubo Festival
The Rokubo Festival is a communal festival held in Nakajima-cho, Nanao City, Ishikawa Prefecture, where seven settlements gather at Hiyoshi Shrine.
At the autumn festival, processions featuring gongs, drums, mikoshi, and deep crimson frame banners set out from each subsidiary shrine.
It has been passed down as an event expressing gratitude for a bountiful harvest at the time of the autumn harvest.
It is sometimes called the Rokubo Festival together with the Rokubo Osuzumi Festival.
Source: 六保祭 - Wikipedia
Festival highlights
The highlights are the processions of mikoshi and frame banners arriving from each settlement.
Sarutahiko leads the way, followed by gongs and drums, ceremonial objects, mikoshi, and a deep crimson banner over a dozen meters tall.
On the grounds of Hiyoshi Shrine, Sarutahiko also performs a spirited dance, and a children’s lion dance is offered.
Distinctive features include bracing the frame’s base against the shoulder to raise the banner, and the rarely seen “Shimada-kuzushi.”
Nanao’s autumn festival, where deep crimson frame banners and mikoshi gather
What to expect
The festival proceeds as processions departing from the subsidiary shrines of the seven settlements line up in front of Hiyoshi Shrine and enter the .
After the offering of sacred cloth, Shinto rites, and a lion dance offering, participants proceed along the approach holding the frame banners aloft with both hands and calling out.
Afterward, the main shrine mikoshi heads to Okamidō, its destination for the procession. Centered on the mikoshi, each procession circles clockwise 3 times before returning to its respective subsidiary shrine.
Location and access
- Venue and address
Hiyoshi Shrine (Toyotamachi, Nakajima-cho, Nanao City, Ishikawa Prefecture).
Source: 六保納涼祭＜市指定文化財＞／七尾市
Address Toyotamachi, Nakajima-cho, Nanao City, Ishikawa Prefecture
Dates and season
Rokubo Festival is held on the last Saturday of September each year.
At the festival, the mikoshi and frame banners from each shrine gather at 12:50 p.m. The offering of sacred cloth ceremony is scheduled for 1 p.m., followed by the Rokubo Festival shinji and the transfer of the kami at 2 p.m.
The mikoshi procession sets off at 3 p.m.
Accommodation and hotels PR
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Nearby attractions
のとじま臨海公園水族館
石川県七尾市にある水族館
大地主神社
石川県七尾市にある神社
石川県七尾美術館
石川県七尾市にある美術館
石川県能登島ガラス美術館
石川県七尾市にある美術館
Origins and History of Rokubo Festival
The frame-banner event of the Rokubo Festival has long continued as a celebration where the settlements gather around Hiyoshi Shrine, the main shrine of the six villages of Toyota-ho.
The present-day festival is one of the frame-banner events that follow in the tradition of the Kasashi Festival, the Okumakabuto Festival, and the Shingū Festival.
It is designated an Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Nanao City and is also a component cultural property of the Japan Heritage site “The Peninsula of Dancing Lights: Noto—The Exuberance of the Kiriko Festivals.”
In response to a shortage of participants, cooperation between communities and the downsizing of frame banners have also been promoted.
Official information
Nanao City lists the Rokubo Summer Festival as a city-designated cultural property.
Information about the Rokubo Festival ceremonies and children’s lion dance is also available on the Association of ’ Rokubo Festival page.
Its status as a cultural property can also be confirmed on the Japan Heritage Portal Site.
Source: 六保納涼祭（六保のおすずみ祭り）｜日本遺産ポータルサイト
Rokubo Festival at a Glance
The Rokubo Festival is a traditional autumn festival where seven settlements in Nakajima-cho, Nanao City, gather at Hiyoshi Shrine and parade with mikoshi, gongs and drums, and deep crimson frame banners.
Highlights of the procession and ceremonial offerings include Sarutahiko leading the way, a children’s lion dance, and the raising of the frame banners.
It is held on the last Saturday of September each year and has been passed down in the community as a festival expressing gratitude for a bountiful harvest.
Japanese Festivals.jp Editorial Team
Celebrating local culture and helping you discover a side of Japan you never knew.
Article updated: 2026/10/19
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