One of Hida Furukawa’s biggest annual events is the Furukawa Festival, held in April every year, which sees beautifully decorated floats (yatai) paraded through the city — but what happens to them during the rest of the year?
There are 10 storehouses (屋台蔵, yatai-gura) around central Hida that store the festival floats when they are not in use. Since the floats are delicate and decorated in lacquer, the storehouses were historically designed to protect the floats via humidity control and a fireproof clay-walled exterior.
The emblems of each float decorate the outer doors of each storehouse and correspond to each group (Tai-gumi) who own them.
Outside the festival season, you can also see several yatai floats exhibited at the Hida Furukawa Festival Exhibition Hall twice a year, in the spring and fall, when they are removed from their main storehouses.
Furukawa Festival is a registered UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage thanks to its spectacular floats and drums that go on parade during the festival. For those visitors who cannot visit ...
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