🏮 Tsumagojuku Fuzoku Emaki Gyoretsu

妻籠宿文化文政風俗絵巻之行列

Nagiso, Nagano (Tsumago-juku) · Every year on 23 November

Traditional performing arts

70 days to go
Rooms around Nagiso, Nagano fill up while the festival is on.

The Tsumago-juku Bunka Bunsei Fuzoku Emaki no Gyoretsu is held every year on November 23, Labor Thanksgiving Day, in Tsumago-juku, Nagiso Town, Nagano Prefecture. It is a procession that recreates the customs of the post town during the Bunka and Bunsei eras. About 130 local residents take part, with the cooperation of the Tsumago o Aisuru Kai foundation. The procession began in 1968 to commemorate the start of preservation efforts in Tsumago-juku. Since then, it has been a familiar annual event each autumn. Participants dress as samurai, ronin, torioi-onna (female street singers), kago-kaki (palanquin bearers), hikyaku (couriers), komuso (itinerant flute-playing monks), and others, portraying the appearance of the post town at that time. Particularly popular is the sight of a bride on a Kiso horse, along with a matchmaker and a group carrying long chests, parading to the nagamochi-uta song: "Today the weather is fine, yare yare." Children riding in mountain palanquins also join, conveying the scene of the post town as it was.

Getting there

From JR Chuo Main Line Nagiso Station, shuttle buses to Tsumago-juku run from early afternoon. Alternatively, about 15 minutes by taxi from Nagiso Station.