Ueno Tenjin Festival: The Danjiri Parade
The parade is made up of three main segments: a portable shrine (mikoshi) procession, an oni procession, and a procession of danjiri and shirushi floats. Leading the parade is the mikoshi procession, in which priests and members of the community carry mikoshi and other Shinto objects. At the head of the oni procession is the Ōgohei, a large bamboo staff with paper streamers. It is over 6 meters tall and weighs more than 110 kilograms and must be carried by five men. The central beam is supported by four others and each man holds one of five colored beams. The beams’ colors represent the five traditional Chinese elements: fire, water, wood, metal, and earth.
Following the Ōgohei, the oni procession is divided into two parts: the En no Gyōja and the Chinzei Hachirō Tametomo processions. Participants from four neighborhoods dress as oni in traditional costumes and grotesque masks and march through Iga, gesturing wildly as they greet spectators. Locals believe that a child will grow up healthy if it cries when seeing an oni, so parents tend to push their children toward the frightening performers. Drummers follow each section, providing background music.
Last in the parade are the danjiri and shirushi floats, each pulled through the town by more than 30 people. Each danjiri is paired with a shirushi float, which together symbolize the neighborhood that maintains them. In the past, only people who lived in the neighborhoods that were responsible for the festival were allowed to participate, but as younger generations move away from Iga and the resident population grows older, this practice has begun to change. In addition to the people pulling floats, musicians ride in the danjiri playing festival songs. Participants from each neighborhood also wear matching overcoats (happi) that differ from neighborhood to neighborhood.
Over 1,000 people participate in the procession every year, dressing as oni, attending to floats, or making music. The parade winds through Iga’s streets for almost 2 kilometers. This unusual festival has attracted more than 150,000 international and Japanese visitors in recent years.