Festival · Osaka
Kishiwada Danjiri Matsuri
岸和田だんじり祭
Kishiwada Danjiri Matsuri is a festival with over 300 years of history, which began when a lord of Kishiwada held a harvest festival. Teams from each neighbourhood haul their heavy, richly carved wooden danjiri floats through the old castle-town streets at a run.
The heart-stopping moment is the yarimawashi, when a team swings its float around a street corner at full speed. By day it is raw power and noise, and after dark the floats are hung with paper lanterns and move slowly through the town.
What to see and do
Floats taking sharp corners at full speed; corners along the route are the best places to watch.
At night the danjiri are lit with paper lanterns for a calmer, beautiful procession.
See a float up close and learn about the festival year-round (adults ¥600, children ¥300).
Other districts of the city pull their own danjiri in October.
What’s on
Good to know
- Stand well back from corners and follow marshals; floats weigh tonnes and move fast.
- Streets close to traffic on festival days: come by train and arrive early for a spot.