What a matsuri is
The word matsuri is commonly translated as “festival,” but its root meaning is closer to making offerings to, or serving, a deity. Most matsuri began as rituals at a shrine, and many still have a religious core. Around that core, over time, grew parades, music, markets and games, so that for most visitors a matsuri is a lively street event.
Japan has an enormous number of them, from tiny neighborhood events held on a single afternoon to multi-day festivals that draw large crowds. No two are exactly alike, and local people often regard their own festival as unlike any other.
The ritual core
At the heart of a typical shrine festival is a ceremony conducted by the shrine’s priests. The ceremony often includes purification, offerings of rice, sake, salt, vegetables or seafood, a recitation of prayers, and sometimes sacred dance or music. Those who take part may be asked to stand or bow. The aim, broadly, is to honor the deity enshrined there and to ask for protection and a good harvest or good fortune for the community.
Visitors who know the basics of how Shinto shrines work will notice the structure: arrival at the torii gates, purification, an offering, and then the festivities. The most important point is that the fun and the ritual are not seen as opposites. Lively celebration is itself part of honoring the deity.
The portable shrine
Many festivals include a mikoshi, a portable shrine. It is a decorated, often gilded, miniature building with a handle structure of long beams, and it is understood to carry the deity temporarily out of the shrine. The deity is thought to travel through the neighborhood, visiting the people it protects.
Mikoshi are carried on the shoulders of a team of bearers. They move in a rhythmic, jolting way, sometimes shaken from side to side, with the bearers calling out in unison. The calls differ by region. The shaking is generally understood as part of the festival’s energy and as a way of stirring the deity’s spirit, and it may look rough, but there is usually an organized structure, with leaders who direct the pace and route. Carrying one is physically demanding, and participants are often local residents who return each year.
Floats and processions
Other festivals feature large wheeled or carried floats. Some are tall, elaborate wooden structures, sometimes with several levels, carved decorations and woven textiles. Others carry musicians, dolls or dancers. The most famous examples are in large festival cities, with processions that can last hours and use streets closed for the occasion.
Floats are generally pulled or pushed by teams from different neighborhoods, which often take pride in their own float and its decoration. The skill and cost involved in building and maintaining them have led to long-standing guilds, associations and, in some cases, official protection of the festival as cultural heritage.
Floats and portable shrines are sometimes mixed up. As a rough rule, a mikoshi carries the deity and is carried by bearers on poles, while a float is more of a display or stage that the community pulls through the streets. Some festivals feature both.
Music, dance and sound
Sound is part of a matsuri’s identity. Large drums, flutes, bells and small hand-held percussion often accompany the procession, and many neighborhoods have their own festival rhythms, rehearsed for weeks. Players typically learn these by listening and practicing together rather than reading notation, in the spirit of other traditional instruments.
Dance can range from sacred performances at the shrine to cheerful circle dances that anyone may join. Many local dances have their own steps and costumes. For a wider view of the performing tradition, see the account of Japanese dance.
People and roles
A matsuri is as much a social structure as an event. Typical roles include the following.
- Shrine priests and assistants. They perform the rituals and care for the shrine.
- Parishioners. Residents of the shrine’s neighborhood, sometimes called ujiko, who traditionally support the shrine and its festival.
- Neighborhood associations and youth groups. These organize routes, volunteers, safety, finances and rehearsals, often working for months.
- Bearers and pullers. The people who carry the mikoshi or pull the floats, often wearing short festival coats and headbands.
- Musicians and dancers. Local residents trained in the festival’s music and dances.
- Children. Many festivals give children a role, such as riding on a float, playing in a youth group or carrying a smaller mikoshi.
- Stallholders and visitors. Vendors set up food and game stalls along the approach, and visitors come to watch, eat and take part.
The roles are rooted in local custom, and who may take them can vary. In some places certain positions were traditionally limited to men or to particular families, and these customs have been changing in many communities.
Food, clothing and play
Along the approach to a festival, rows of temporary stalls sell grilled and fried snacks, sweets and drinks, and game stalls offer scooping goldfish, shooting at targets and similar amusements. Children often receive pocket money for the occasion. Many visitors dress in light summer clothing, and in summer in particular, yukata robes are a common sight. Fireworks festivals are a distinct summer pastime but are often held at around the same time of year, and in some towns the two occasions overlap.
Traditional toys and treats also have a place at festivals. A related discussion appears in the article on traditional toys.
Seasons and variety
Matsuri occur in every season. Spring festivals often pray for good planting, summer ones are linked to driving away illness, fall ones give thanks for the harvest, and winter ones may focus on purification or on the new year. Because the calendar differs, many dates have shifted over time, an issue covered in the overview of Japanese festivals.
Many large festivals were shaped in the Edo period, when prosperous towns competed to put on splendid events. The Edo townspeople are often credited with helping to make the festival a major social institution, and in some cities that influence is still visible in decoration and organization.
Visiting respectfully
For visitors, a few simple habits help.
- Observe from the side during processions, and give bearers and pullers plenty of room.
- Follow instructions from organizers and volunteers.
- Ask before photographing people at close range during sacred moments.
- Take your trash with you, and do not climb on floats or touch ritual objects.
- Remember that for many participants this is a religious and community occasion first, and a spectacle second.
Festivals depend on volunteers and local funding, and some communities are struggling to find enough young participants. Some have responded by welcoming outsiders as bearers or helpers, while others prefer to keep the tradition within the neighborhood. Both approaches reflect a wish to keep a living tradition going.