🏮 Tomida Ishidori Matsuri

富田の石取祭

Yokkaichi, Mie (Toride Shrine) · Every year, 14–15 August

Summer festivalBon odoriTraditional performing artsFloats

334 days to go
Rooms around Yokkaichi, Mie fill up while the festival is on.

Tomita's Ishidori Festival is held every year during Obon in August in the Tomita district of northern Yokkaichi City, Mie Prefecture. It is organized by the neighborhood associations of three towns—Tomita Nishimachi, Kitamuramachi, and Mofukumachi—and is held as part of the Obon festival of Toride Shrine. It has been designated an intangible folk cultural property of Yokkaichi City. The ishidori dashi (festival floats) owned by each town were made between the late Edo period and the Taisho period, and were acquired from the Kuwana area. Tomita Nishimachi has held the festival since 1857. In the prewar period it was temporarily suspended due to labor shortages from conscription, and although the floats suffered flood damage in the Ise Bay Typhoon, each town collected funds during the Heisei era for large-scale repairs, and in 1997 all three floats were pulled together for the first time. The highlights are the town parade on August 14 and the "soroe-biki" (joint pulling) of the three floats from Tomita Nishimachi, Kitamuramachi, and Mofukumachi on the central street on the 15th. Young men's groups pull the floats while striking gongs and drums, and the Tomita whale boat, a nationally designated important folk cultural property, also gathers. The festival also participates in the O-Yokkaichi Festival.