Matsuri float
A is a general term for a float that is pulled or carried during a festival in Japan. They are often gorgeously decorated with flowers and dolls. It is also called Hikiyama and Matsuri Yatai (also simply Yatai). In events such as , these floats are sometimes paraded through the town. Strictly speaking, those that imitate the shape of a mountain or have a tree on top as a symbol of a mountain are classified as "yama", while those without such a shape and with a roof are called "yatai".。But in reality the name is often standardized to  one or the other regardless of the shape for each festival. Another name for floats. It is called in various ways depending on the region. Objects of the platform. The word dashi is derived from two theories: one is that it is a display outside the temple or precincts, and the other is that it is a display of Yorishiro, the beard basket. The word "yama" refers to all kinds of floats, but the word "kuruma" is often used to refer to hikiyama. Mountain (the original form of a float). A mountain is a substitute made to resemble a natural  mountain and is used in festivals. The original form of a float. In the ancient Folk belief, there was a belief that gods descended from the heavens using rocks and trees on mountains and mountaintops as substitutes. These remain as Mountain worship or Shinto shrines with mountains as Shintai. A typical example is Okami Shrine (Mt. Miwa). Even small shrines located at the foot of a mountain often have a Iwakura or Shinboku at the top. As villages developed, rituals began to be held in the plains, and temporary shrines were established. At this time, a yorishiro was also set  up to pray for the coming of the gods, and this became permanent, resulting in the establishment of facilities such as today's shrines. One of these substitutes is a mountain (yama, tsukuri yama or decorative yama) built to resemble a mountain. In addition to the permanent reliquaries inside the temples, these mountains came to be used at festivals as temporary reliquaries to express or reaffirm the descent of the gods. Originally, the mountain was actually built and prayed on, but later the altar came to be regarded as the mountain. The first recorded mountain is "Mt. Aoba" in the  article of Taruhito in Kojiki, where it is said that Kibisatsumi, the ancestor of the Izumo Kunizukuri, built a mountain decorated with green leaves as a garden to enshrine Okuninushi. A rare example that retains the original meaning is the "Karasuyama no Yamaage event" (commonly known as "Yamaage Matsuri", a national List of Important Intangible Folk Cultural Properties) in Tochigi Prefecture Nasu Karasuyama City.Originally, the festival involved the construction and dedication of an earthen mound in the town, but with the rise of the economy, the local specialty washi paper (Chomura-gami) was used to attach the mound to  a frame made of wood and bamboo.The largest of these is 7 meters wide (the full width of the road) and over 10 meters high. At present, several floats and stage sets are combined over a depth of 100 meters, and entertainment (such as Kyogen and Kagura) is dedicated to the floats. These floats are paraded through the town just like other floats in other places. All of the floats are handmade, 7m wide, 10m high, and 100m deep, and the stage sets are assembled each time, entertained, dismantled, and moved up to 6 times a  day, or 18 times in a 3-day festival. The waterfalls are painted on all of the mountains, in the hope that the blessings of the mountains will spread to all of the towns. Until the early Showa period (1926–1989), the mountains were burned at each festival and the ashes were given away as good luck charms. The first mountain to be recorded as a form of ritual object is "Shirushi-no-Yama", which was pulled up for the Nimei-tennō's Great Lenten Festival in the 10th year of the Tenchō (833), November Boshin-jō in the Chiku Nihon  Kouki. (Shirushi-no-yama, Hyo-no-yama, Shime-yama), which was pulled during the Emperor Ninmyō It is said to be the original form of a float, with a role similar to that of a mobile shrine. There was a time when the festival was suspended, and the Shibeyama seems to have been abolished at that time. The same type of floats appeared in folk festivals, and they were called "yokiyama," a type of float temporarily built like an altar, "hikiyama," a type of float pulled, and "kakiyama," a type of float carried. In the current festival, there are only  a few floats that are not paraded, and most of them are paraded. [The Hozutsu Hachimangu Shrine in Toyama Prefecture and the Futagami Imizu Shrine in Takaoka City still perform the Tsukiyama event, a form of ancient worship. Although the origins of the Tsukiyama ritual are not well known, it is known that the Tsukiyama ritual at Hojozu Hachimangu Shrine has been performed since the early Edo period, according to 1721 (Kyōho in 1721 and "Tsukiyama Kooro Denki". A temporary Tsukiyama (Altar) is set up in front of a large pine tree at Hōyūzu Hachimangu Shrine and three large cedar  trees at Futagami Sagami Shrine to welcome the gods. Both mounts have a two-tiered altar, and the lower tier has two masks, one for each of the Four Heavenly Kings (Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Virūḍhaka (Heavenly King), Virūpākṣa, and Vaiśravaṇa), with a Karahafu-roofed temple (Hokora) in the center of the upper row. Hokora) in the center of the upper tier is a Karahafu roofed temple (Shrine). After the rituals are over, the mounds are dismantled in a great hurry according to the legend that each God is said to go berserk. This event was also held at the Isurugihiko Shrine on  Ishidōzan in Noto, but was discontinued during the Meiji period. In Toyama Prefecture, the ceremony is performed only at Hōyūtsu Hachimangu Shrine and Futagami-Imizu Shrine, which was suspended in the Meiji period and revived in 1956 (Showa 31). This is a rare event in Japan. Because of the appearance of the three main deities, it has been called "legless" in Houzu, "handless" in Futagamiyama, and "mouthless" in Ishidouyama. Danjiri. The word "yama" includes "hikiyama" and "kakiyama," and also includes "yama (yakiyama)" in terms of its reading. The most common type is "hikiyama" with wheels, and other types include "kakiyama  with a paddle. The names of the floats are as mentioned above, but it is very complicated because the same floats are called differently in different regions, and the same name is sometimes used for different floats. More and more floats are being paraded as a style of entertainment, and a variety of floats exist all over Japan. Many of them have lost their role as a substitute, but there are vestiges such as children or Dolls riding on them, or items used as substitutes are decorated on them. Structure. Depending on the region or district, there are many types 	Matsuri float
10044052	of bogies with wheels inside or outside the bogie, wheels made of wood or metal, wheel size, and the way the wood of the bogie body is assembled. The most common type of wheel is the four-wheeled one. There are two types of wheel: the yaguruma (spoked wheel) and itaguruma (board wheel) of the outer wheel style, and the inner wheel style. Some of them have lacquered or carved wheels, and some of them have auxiliary wheels. [The floats used in the Otsu Festival in Shiga Prefecture and the Ishidori Matsuri in northern Mie Prefecture are three-wheeled, while 	Matsuri float
10044053	those used in the Shizuoka, two-wheeled floats pulled in central and eastern Enshu from Mori-cho to Iwata City, six-wheeled floats such as Hamasaki Gion Yamakasa, and Toyama Prefecture Some have six wheels, such as the Hamasaki Gion Yamakasa, while others are sleigh-shaped without wheels, such as the Tatemon Festival in Uozu City. There are also different ways and forms of operation. In Ogi Gion, logs were laid one after another underneath the mountain without wheels, which was an unusual way of operating the festival, but now it is just a hikiyama with wheels. In most cases	Matsuri float
10044054	, the floats are operated by human power. In rare cases, the floats are pulled by trucks, or the floats themselves are powered, but this is a special case. Some of the floats have very elaborate Karakuri puppets and vary in size from the size of an ordinary Mikoshi to more than ten times that size (weighing several tons). Among them, the hikiyama (big mountain) of the Aokashiwa Festival in Nanao City, Ishikawa Prefecture, weighs about 20 tons and is said to be the largest in Japan. The reason for the creation of large floats is that they can be operated 	Matsuri float
10044055	in a huge size due to the form of pulling, the remnants of the use of taller floats as a substitute, and competition between shrine parishioners as a style. A yatai is a float pulled by two wheels. Famous festivals include the Murakami Festival, the Enshu Yokosuka Mikumano Shrine Festival, and the Kakegawa Festival. This refers to all kinds of floats decorated with paper flowers and other floral decorations. In the Ofunato Festival, paper called Ohana" is used to decorate the carts with gold and silver. All of these are used to fund the reconstruction of the shrine and the  Community Center. This type of float is rare in Japan, and most of them weigh from a few hundred kilograms to about one or two tons at the heaviest. They are often confused with mikoshi (portable shrines), but they are classified as floats because of their nature as accompaniments to the Ujiko. One of the most famous is the Hakata Gion Yamakasa. Floats designated as Important Tangible Folk Cultural Properties. Of the festivals (events) still held throughout Japan, a total of 66 floats pulled at the following five festivals have been designated as Important Tangible Folk Cultural Properties. All of  the festivals in which they are pulled are listed on the List of Important Intangible Folk Cultural Properties and on the Intangible cultural heritage of UNESCO. Intangible cultural heritage of UNESCO (see also the following section for more information on the festivals that have received this designation). The following list includes floats that are not called "floats". The Parade of Floats. List of major festivals in which floats are used. The following list includes festivals that are not called "floats". Float festivals designated as Important Intangible Folk Cultural Properties and registered as Intangible Cultural Heritage. Among the festivals that are  still held in Japan, there are 40 float festivals ("festivals with floats as the main part of the festival") that are designated as Important Intangible Folk Cultural Properties by the government. Gion Matsuri and Hitachi Kaze Matsuri. Two of them, the Gion Matsuri and the Hitachi Furyumono, were inscribed on the UNESCO list of Intangible cultural heritage in 2009 (Heisei 21), but the Agency for Cultural Affairs announced on 13 March 2014 that it would propose to register all 32 festivals designated as Important Intangible Folk Cultural Properties, including the above two, as "Yamahoko-Yatai Events" in 2015 (Heisei 27 ). 13 March 2014.、On 27 March of the same year, we decided to formally apply for registration, and the earliest we could expect to hear whether or not it would be approved was in the fall of 2015 (Heisei 27).、The application for registration was submitted on 4 June, and since 61 applications for registration were received from various countries, UNESCO informed us that the registration review will take place in the fall of 2016. Later, the "Oogaki Festival Shido Event (Ogaki Festival)" was designated as an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property on 2 March 2015 (Heisei 27).、It was also added to  UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list, bringing the total to 33. On 31 October 2016 (Heisei 28), UNESCO's subsidiary organization issued a recommendation for the registration of 33 items in 18 prefectures.、It was registered on 1 December of the same year. Festivals marked with an asterisk (*) are those registered as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage "Yamahoko-Yatai Events" (33 events) External links. Category:Folklore studies Category:Annual events in Japan Category:Festivals in Japan Category:Japanese culture Category:Shinto Category:Pages with unreviewed translations