Vol.17 Touring the Annual Parade of the Giant (November 3) Festivals of Japan Yagorō-don Matsuri in sumi-cho Yagorō-don rises up in the Illustrations Kagoshima middle of the night. The and Text/ giant doll, accompanied by young people wearing happi coats, parades through the town with Hamakudari Ōsumi town,

This person is skilled at Yagorō-don is followed by a procession Literally means to ‘walk shaking Yagorō-don’s of the shrine gods with banners and down to the sea’ and shoulder to make it seem mikoshi (portable shrines). derives from custom of as if he is moving. purifying the body in seawater. The parade A stick for pushing power symbolizes this. lines out of the way.

Yagorō-don is 4.85 meters in height, but the old people of the town say he was much bigger in the past. It is said that Yagorō- The float is made from a car body, complete with Fifth grade elementary brakes for safely going Shimenawa (sacred straw school boys from Ōsumi- ropes) strung throughout down slopes. cho do the pulling. It’s not 據說是與大和朝廷對抗奮戰的隼 the town. clear why it’s only the fifth 人族首領（眾說紛紜）

If so, then this festival would be to console the spirit of Gripping the

A Giant Doll Parades Through the Town and in the middle of a dream, when I was along the way. asleep. suddenly awoken at just after one in the When I arrived, a crowd of young people At four a.m. Yagorō-don was carried outside It’s the Yagorō-don festival, and a giant oversized figure as it travelled along with opposite and identifies him as Takenouchi morning by the sound of a drum beating wearing happi coats were in the main shrine, and placed on a float to be pulled up for the doll over four meters tall lumbers through solemn dignity. I’ve been wanting to see it no Sukune, a member of the Imperial Court. on the road outside and a voice calling in the midst of a struggle to get Yagorō-don start of the waking up ritual. A popular belief the streets of Ōsumi-cho in the city of Sō, with my own eyes at least once ever since, I suppose interpretations tend to differ “Yagorō-don will awake.” It was the into his kimono. Apparently this is also an is that participating in this ritual confers good Kagoshima Prefecture. The sight has been and now at last the time has come for my according to the different sides – the side in ceremonial drum signaling that the “waking important ritual. As work progressed, a giant health and increases good fortune, which is imprinted in my mind ever since I saw a dream to be realized. control, or the side under control. All you can ritual”, in which Yagorō-don is assembled, cylinder-like object woven from bamboo probably why a crowd of men and women of photograph of the event in a travel magazine So who, or what, was the original Yagorō- say is that it’s a common story. was about to begin at the shrine. Rubbing the gradually took on a human form. The all ages had gathered in the shrine grounds over a decade ago. I was captivated by the don? A number of theories exist. One is that I was in my room at the inn where I was sleep from my eyes, I set out for the shrine. moment the face was attached, the goggle before I knew it. At a signal the crowd pulled fierce yet winsome face, with its goggle he was a chief of the Hayato clan who led a staying, sleeping peacefully under the This town may be down south, but midnight eyes appeared to move slightly and it really on the rope and Yagorō-don rose to stand eyes under thick eyebrows, and the air of failed resistance against the Imperial Court in influence of the imo jōchū (sweet potato in late autumn was still cold, so I bought a did seem as if something was in there. But straight up against the background of an melancholy that seemed to hang around the the ancient Yamato period, another does the liquor) I’d drunk the previous evening can of hot coffee from a vending machine that might have been because I was still half ultramarine blue night sky. Cries went up

2012 Dec 2012 Dec 44 45 “Yagorō-don is waking Yagorō-don starts to take its form around 2:00 a.m. at the Getting the footholds in Look up and you will see Iwagawa Hachiman Shrine. place after standing him up. A kimono is put over The long the bamboo and short At 4:00 a.m. he is attached swords are to the float and everyone wrapped Pheasant helps to pull him up. feathers (the national Yagorō-don lamps!

Team of 6 4.2m adults. Three-pronged halberd. The kimono is made from 310 meters of cloth dyed with Japanese apricots, a fruit The work is completed believed to have the power by 6:00 a.m. of regeneration (nowadays a chemical dye is used). A Yagorō-don festival is also held in

Here we go!

Yamanokuchi town, sumi town, Miyakonojō City, The bottom half, Sō City, Miyazaki Prefecture Kagoshima (November 3) prefecture (November 3)

Yagorō-don is made from bamboo. Hyugo, Nichinan Yagarō-don in Yamanokuchi-cho City, Miyazaki Prefecture But if you say this you’ll get They are called the (November 23) Four meters tall. Wears a stomach ache – or so it’s three brothers, although they have a simple hemp kimono believed – so children never the same name… because he squandered speak these words. his fortune on drink and gambling.

from the crowd: “Ooh,” “He’s awake,” After a brief stop, as if to take a look down at Irrespective of who Yagorō-don originally 【Yagorō-don Matsuri】 【How to get there】 and “Huge!” I was a bit taken aback – the crowds, the children pulled on the rope was, this event has definitely grown bigger Held every year on November 3, and with a tradition ● By public transport wasn’t this supposed to be the most and Yagorō-don moved off. One man rode and bigger, becoming something that stretching back 900 years, this is one of three major Take the Miyazaki Kūkōsen bus important part? But it had only taken one or on Yagorō-don’s shoulder, holding a stick encompasses reverence for the souls of festivals in Kagoshima prefecture. The over five meter tall from Miyazaki Airport and get off at giant doll known as Yagorō-don parades through the city Miyakonojō Station bus stop. two seconds to pull up Yagorō-don. I wish it to push away the power lines. Apparently in various people and all kinds of beliefs. with two swords, 4.2 and 2.85 meters long respectively, Change to a bus bound for Shibushi- could have taken a bit longer. the past they used to actually cut the power The sound of the drum leading the way hanging from his waist. One theory is that the original shi and get off at the Iwagawa bus Everything up to this point could be called lines. Those Hayatos of Satsuma are really grew fainter and fainter as the somehow Yagorō-don was chief of the Hayato clan, another is that stop. Walk about 15 minutes from Sō-shi, Ōsumi-cho the first act, in which case the second act is something! Every time the man moved, the melancholy sight of Yagorō-don’s swaying he was Takenouchi no Sukune, who served the sixth there. the Hamakudari parade, when Yagorō-don giant doll swayed to and fro so that it looked back grew smaller in the distance as it made Emperor. These days people pray to him for good harvests ● By car and venerate him as a guardian protector deity. Assembly Exit the Miyazaki Expressway at the ambles through town. Accordingly, at one in as if it were really walking. The road was its dignified way through town. of Yagorō-don starts at one in the morning at the Miyakonojō interchange, and drive thronging with people, all excited about this the afternoon he descended the slope from Iwagawa Hachiman Shrine on the day of the festival, and about twenty minutes on route 10. the shrine and passed through the torii gate. once a year event – the parade of the giant. the Hamakudari parade through town starts from one in 2012 Dec 2012 Dec 46 the afternoon. 47