🏮 Ichiki Tanabata Odori

市来の七夕踊

Ichikikushikino, Kagoshima (Former Ichiki Town Osato District) · Every year on 31 August

Summer festival

351 days to go
Rooms around Ichikikushikino, Kagoshima fill up while the festival is on.

Ichiki no Tanabata Odori is held in the former Ichiki Town Osato district of Ichikikushikino, Kagoshima Prefecture, on the Sunday closest to August 7 each year. It is a traditional event designated as an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Japan. In the past, people gathered mainly from the youth associations of 14 settlements, and the whole district put on the event on a grand scale. With a history of more than 400 years, the festival was suspended as of 2022 due to a shortage of people to carry it on amid the declining birthrate and aging population. The highlights were a procession in which large papier-mache figures called tsukuimon, such as deer and tigers, paraded through the district, and a taiko odori (drum dance) performed to the beat of drums and gongs. Centered on the drum leader called ichiban-don, dances and songs passed down orally from instructors called niwawari were offered.

Getting there

Held in the former Ichiki Town Osato district of Ichikikushikino, Kagoshima Prefecture. The nearest station is Ichiki Station on the JR Kyushu Kagoshima Main Line. About 10 minutes on foot.