Friends of Japan Series: Saga Month - Zaynab Nakhid

Saga Month: Karatsu Kunchi and the Balloon Festival.
 

To those of you who are taking a trip to Japan in the autumn, you might be tempted to visit Fukuoka City for its rich history and amazing food. However, just to the west of Fukuoka is a prefecture called Saga that has one of the biggest festivals in Kyushu during the autumn period.
 

The Karatsu Kunchi is an annual festival in Saga and will be held from Friday the 01st to Monday the 04th of November 2019 with the Monday being “Culture day”; a public holiday in Japan. The festival is massive, spanning a wide area in the city of Karatsu which can be seen from many designated viewing areas.
 

The streets will have many stalls selling food and special merchandise made especially for the festival. Anime fans can rejoice since the anime Yuri on Ice merchandise will also be available on the streets and in the castle. For those of you who collect Goshuin, special Goshuin will also be given out at Karatsu Shrine to commemorate the festival.
 

The 400 year old festival itself is a parade with massive floats called hikiyama being pulled through the streets and accompanied by Japanese bamboo flute music played by residents of the city. The hikiyama are images of Japanese mythological creatures like Hou-ou Maru (Pokémon fans will recognize the name), Kinjishi the gold dragon and Tai (the sea bream fish). The parade occurs on every day of the festival.
 

Around the time of the festival is also luckily, the Saga International Balloon festival. It occurs annually in Saga and will be held from Wednesday 30th October to Tuesday 05th November 2019. It is credited as the largest hot air balloon festival in Asia with balloonists from around the world taking part. Since the two festivals occur at the same time it is easy to take a trip to Saga for activities to fill the weekend.
 

Lastly, Karatsu Castle is worth mentioning as one of the most interactive castles that I have ever been to. The castle has costume corners for those who would like to try wearing kimono or hakama. Samurai helmets and the Karatsu Kunchi hikiyama hats are also laid out for visitors to try on.
 

November is definitely “Saga month” in Kyushu so for anyone who’s looking for a reason to travel or those who would like a chance to experience a traditional Japanese festival, Kyushu is the place to be.

Friends of Japan Series: Saga Month (Japanese Embassy Facebook)


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