"Kakunodate Matsuri no Yama Event,” a nationally designated Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property

"Kakunodate Matsuri no Yama Event,” designated as a National Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property, is one of the ‘Yama, Hoko, Yatai’ (floats) and is registered as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage.

The Kakunodate Matsuri no Yama  Event is an event that is filled with the simple prayers of the common people for the descent of the gods and for the safety and peace of their daily lives. In recent years, festivals themselves have become more and more skeletal, and many events seem to have forgotten the existence of God.

The Kakunodate Festival, held annually on September 7, 8, and 9, began about 400 years ago.

It is a prayer for the prosperity of the community, business, and the health of the family, and is a combination of the Shinmyo Shrine (September 7 and 8) and Yakushido (September 8 and 9) festivals.

On the 7th, the floats go to Shinmyosha to pray, and on the 8th, they pass through the samurai residences to visit the head of the Satake Kita family.

The floats are accompanied by a “Oyamabayashi” (musician) who plays flutes, drums, drums, gongs, and shamisen, and Akita obakko (young women) perform a graceful hand dance. Young men and women pull the floats to visit Shinmeisha Shrine and Yakushido Shrine, and to visit the Satake Kita family.

Yama-butsuri is performed in relation to the progress of the floats. Negotiations with the other floats are called “negotiation,” but if the purpose of the procession is lost after the visit to the shrine, etc. is completed, the negotiations will fail because the floats no longer have priority in the procession. The festival will be held on the basis of merit, and this is when the “yama-buttuke” takes place.

This is the climax of the festival, and both the pullers and the musical accompaniment reach their climax.