🏮 Miyazu Matsuri
宮津祭
Miyazu, Kyoto (Sannomiya Hiyoshi Shrine and Waki Miya Shrine) · Every year, 13–15 May
241 days to go
Rooms around Miyazu, Kyoto fill up while the festival is on.
The Miyazu Festival is the collective name for the annual festivals of Sannomiya Hiyoshi Shrine and Waki Miya Shrine in Miyazu City, Kyoto Prefecture, held every year from May 13 to 15. It originally was a common name for Sannomiya Hiyoshi Shrine's spring festival, the Sanno Festival, and served to unite the town as the largest festival around Miyazu Bay. Waki Miya Shrine's Higashi Festival was originally an autumn festival, but its dates were changed around the middle of the Showa era, and now the east and west districts hold their festivals separately. During the Edo period, it was held as the festival of the Miyazu domain, with the domain lord and samurai also joining the procession, and the mikoshi (portable shrine) made a circuit around Miyazu Bay to the opposite shore's Namiji Otori-sho. It had religious significance as a prayer for peace in the castle town, and the characteristic that all events end simultaneously at the moment the mikoshi returns is still carried on today. The highlights are the local performing art Ukidai, which accompanies the mikoshi procession, and Daikagura, which descends from Ise Kagura. The Ukidai of the fishing town is a Miyazu City intangible cultural property, and shows two forms, "striking" and "dancing," to the rhythm of flute and shime-daiko. The hikiyama floats, of which 26 once paraded, are still represented by Miyamoto-cho's Banzai Hoko, which irregularly performs children's kabuki and adds color to the festival.
Getting there
About 5 minutes on foot from Miyazu Station on the Kyoto Tango Railway. Or about 10 minutes by car from Miyazu Amanohashidate IC.
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Where to stay
Searches for rooms on Every year, 13–15 May.
