【AKITA-YOKOTE】16th Aug.: seat and guide of Yokote's Okuribon festival

Enjoy boat-ramming of the Okuribon Festival. The boats square off in pairs and are rammed against each other at the nose. Participants smash together, shouting and waving as fireworks go off overhead.

The Boat-Ramming (Butsuke-ai)Ceremony: Each of the yakatabune that take part in the ceremony is prepared by the residents and shopkeepers of a different neighborhood of Yokote. While the boat frames are reused from previous festivals, every year the residents must fashion new straw hulls and fittings, a process that takes up to a month. Each of the participating neighborhoods builds a yakatabune, which must be carried from its home neighborhood to the dry riverbed of the Yokote River. On August 15, the boats are lined up during the bon odori so that visitors can see them up close. On August 16, the boats are pulled down to the river for the sending-off ceremony. This is followed by the “boat-ramming” (butsuke-ai) ceremony, which has become the highlight of the Okuribon Festival. The boats are brought back to the bridge, where they square off in pairs and are rammed against each other at the nose. Representatives from each neighborhood remain aboard the boats as they smash together, shouting and waving as fireworks go off overhead.