Saijo Matsuri 2009 ???? from Brad Kremer on Vimeo.

Saijo Matsuri is a festival held every year in October in Saijo, Japan. Saijo Matsuri is a three day event celebrating the fall harvest. They carry 135 of these 700kg(1500lbs) Danjiri all over town and parade them in a very enthusiastic fashion. They will all be in one spot for 4-5 hours and then carry it to the next 10-20km away to the next spot and continue the fun. And they do this, almost non-stop, day and night for three days.

They lift these Danjiri up over their heads and present them to the Kami(God). Sometimes when they get a good bounce going the Danjiri will actually lift away from their grip several centimeters in the air and hopefully they catch them again. And then there are 7 larger Mikoshi that come from a neighboring town, Niihama, to join in the festivities. These larger ones weigh a tremendous 2.5 tons.

This film focuses on the second day, Oct. 17th. It starts at 1am, goes to three locations and ends around 8pm.

I suggest watching with good speakers or headphones to get the full effect of being immersed into this amazing event. Enjoy!