Hitachi Otsu Ofune Festival

Event

This ceremony is held once every five years at Sawawachigi-jinja Shrine in Otsu, to pray for safety on the sea and good catches. It's registered as a National Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property. A portable shrine is set onto a massive wooden boat, 14 meters long, three meters high, four meters across and weighing seven tons, which is then paraded through the streets to the sounds of sailors' songs and festival music, in a hugely impressive sight. The boat, known as Tairyomaru (Big catch) isn't wheeled but it slides along on a contraption called a soroban, or abacus. As the bottom of the boat slides on the soroban, the smell of burning and white smoke start to spread for a truly impressive punch.