Nada Fighting Festival (Nada no Kenka Matsuri)
The Nada Fighting Festival is the autumn grand festival of Matsubara Hachiman Shrine in the Shirahama district of Himeji, west of Kobe, and is held annually on October 14 and 15. On the eve, seven heavily carved and gilded yatai floats from the surrounding neighbourhoods are paraded and jolted against one another through the streets. On the main day, three portable shrines are deliberately rammed together in the shrine precinct and then hauled up Otabiyama, a hillside natural amphitheatre where tens of thousands watch from the slope. The collisions are the point: worshippers hold that the rougher the clash, the better the deity is served, and the mikoshi are expected to end the day battered. Hundreds of bearers in loincloths and headbands drive the shrines forward while bamboo poles crack and splinter above the crowd. It is the best known of Japan's kenka, or fighting, festivals. Paid seating is sold on the hillside; free standing areas fill early and involve sudden crowd surges.
Event information
| When | Usually held in mid October; check the official site for the latest schedule |
|---|---|
| Where | Kobe |
| Access | Matsubara Hachiman Shrine is in the Shirahama district of Himeji, a few minutes' walk from Shirahama-no-miya Station on the Sanyo Electric Railway; Himeji itself is about 40 minutes from Kobe by train. |
| Schedule status | Check the official site |
| Official information | Open the official site |
Practical tips
- Shirahama-no-miya Station on the Sanyo line is only a few minutes from the shrine, but trains and the station itself are extremely crowded on both days - allow far more time than the timetable suggests.
- Paid hillside seats at Otabiyama are arranged through the festival organisers and local neighbourhood associations well in advance.
- This is a physically dangerous festival to stand close to; keep well back from the mikoshi and follow the marshals, especially with children.
- Himeji Castle is a short train ride away, so the festival pairs naturally with a castle visit earlier in the day.
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