🏮 Hakata Okunchi

博多おくんち

Hakata, Fukuoka (Kushida Shrine) · Every year on 23 and 24 October

Mikoshi

39 days to go
Rooms around Hakata, Fukuoka fill up while the festival is on.

Hakata Okunchi is the autumn annual festival of Kushida Shrine in Hakata Ward, Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture, a festival giving thanks for the autumn harvest. Along with Nagasaki Kunchi and Karatsu Kunchi, it is known as one of the three great kunchi festivals of Japan. The festival began in 1953 (Showa 28), when the schedule and name of Kushida Shrine's Niiname-sai, previously held on November 23, were changed and the festival was newly established. The Hakata Okunchi Promotion Association holds the main festival every year on October 23 and 24. After the grand festival is held in the main hall on the 23rd, the 24th is the day of the go-shinko procession, in which a parade centered on a mikoshi (portable shrine) drawn on an ox cart, joined by a lion head, a chigo procession, and elementary school brass bands from the school districts, parades through the streets of Hakata. In ordinary years, one of the three mikoshi of Kushida-gu, Daijingu, and Gion-gu takes part, and once every 25 years, on the anniversary of the transfer of the deity, all three are assembled. Also, on the 22nd, the day before the main festival, the mikoshi is purified at Hamamiya at Hakata Pier, and during the period tea offerings, sumo tournaments, and judo tournaments are also held.

Getting there

The nearest station is Nakasu-Kawabata Station on the Subway Airport Line, about 15 minutes on foot, or get off at the Nishitetsu Bus Reisenmachi stop and walk 3 minutes. For parking, use paid parking lots in the surrounding area.