Nada Fighting Festival

This grand autumn festival is held annually on October 14 and 15 at Matsubara Hachiman Shrine in Shirahama-cho, Himeji City. Known as one of Japan’s three great festivals featuring fierce portable shrine clashes, this unusual event brings together seven areas along the southeastern coast of the city known as the “seven former villages,” whose residents are parishioners of Matsubara Hachiman Shrine.

During the eve festival on October 14, lavishly decorated festival floats depart from each district early in the morning. After parading through the town, they pass through the shrine gate in a set order to enter the shrine grounds. The main festival takes place on October 15. After members of the district on duty that year purify themselves in the sea, they vigorously ram three portable shrines into one another in front of the worship hall and shrine gate while shouting chants. The powerful spectacle makes it easy to see why the event is called a “fighting festival.” The portable shrines and floats also clash in a spirited procession at Mt. Otabi, about 1 km from the shrine, followed by a Shinto ritual at the summit. The sight of the portable shrines and floats racing up the steep slope toward the summit is also not to be missed.