From midnight the floats play gongs and drums all together: Guinness calls it the noisiest.
From midnight on Saturday, thirty or forty floats (祭車) decorated with lanterns and carvings go through the streets of Kuwana, playing gongs and drums together without a break until Sunday night: Guinness World Records has certified it as the noisiest festival in the world. Its origins go back to the Edo period, when stones from the Inbe River were offered to the shrine as a religious act, hence the name, 石取, ‘taking the stones’.
Kuwana Sōsha, formed by the Kasuga and Tado-wakamiya shrines united under the same roof, is the home of the festival. Since 2007 it has been a national Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property; since 2016 it has been part of the UNESCO listing ‘Yama, Hoko, Yatai’, which brings together 33 float festivals in 18 prefectures.
ℹ️ Free entry to the shrine. The festival is held every year on the weekend of the first Sunday in August.
🚉 Kuwana · 15 min walk
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