🏮 Chan Chan Matsuri

ちゃんちゃん祭り

Tenri, Nara (Yamato Shrine) · Every year on 1 April

MikoshiTraditional performing artsFloats

199 days to go
Rooms around Tenri, Nara fill up while the festival is on.

The Chonchon Festival, held annually on April 1 at Yamato Shrine in Shinsen-cho, Tenri City, Nara Prefecture, is a regular festival celebrated by the parishioners of nine towns that make up the old Yamato-go area. Each town selects a toya (festival host) on a rotating yearly basis; during the festival period, households display gate decorations at their entrances, and boys up to around ten years old participate in the rituals as toninji (child attendants). By the 15th century, this festival already involved the procession of two mikoshi (portable shrines) from Kishida-cho to Nakayama-cho, and it is a historically significant rite with miyaza (shrine guild) documents dating from the early Edo period. The toya rituals have been well preserved, and in 2018 it was designated a Nara Prefecture Intangible Folk Cultural Property. The highlights begin with the March 23 miyairi (entrance into the shrine) and culminate in the April 1 afternoon owatari (procession). Centered on the two mikoshi from the main shrine and Masumiko Shrine, a procession of over 100 people, including ubukohei (birth talismans), yamaboko (festival floats), furyu umbrellas, and armored warriors, proceeds south along the Kamikaido road. At the rest stop in Kishida-cho, the Ryu-no-kuchi-mai (Dragon Mouth Dance) is performed, and at the otabisho (resting place) in Nakayama-cho, the Okina-no-mai (Old Man Dance) and Ryu-no-kuchi-mai are offered. The exchange of chimaki (rice dumplings) and throwing of mochi at Hadajime Shrine continue to preserve the forms of old Yamato festivals.

Getting there

Public transportation: From JR Sakurai Line or Kintetsu Tenri Line 'Tenri Station', take a Nara Kotsu bus and get off at 'Yamato Shrine Mae' — immediate access. By car: About 5 minutes from 'Tenri IC' on the Nishi-Meihan Expressway. Parking available.