Published October 20, 2026 at 1:56 PM JST

Every August the castle town of Kuwana in Mie fills with more than forty float crews beating gongs and drums, a UNESCO-listed festival famous for being gloriously loud.

Quick answer: The Ishidori Festival is the summer festival of Kuwana, a former castle and post town in northern Mie Prefecture, centered on Kasuga Shrine (also called Kuwana Sosha). It is typically held on the first Sunday of August and the day before, and the organizers set the exact days each year. Neighborhood crews pull large festival floats called saisha through the streets while playing a big drum and rows of bronze gongs, which is why the festival is often described as the noisiest in Japan. It joined the UNESCO list of Yama, Hoko, Yatai float festivals in 2016.

A festival you hear before you see it

Many Japanese festivals are known for beauty, for fire or for solemn ritual. Kuwana's Ishidori Festival is known first for sound. When dozens of neighborhood crews play their gongs and drums at the same time, the noise rolls through the old streets of the city in waves, and visitors often describe feeling the rhythm in their chests as well as hearing it. Tourism pages from Mie Prefecture and the city of Kuwana lean into this reputation with nicknames such as the noisiest festival in Japan and an unusual festival like no other.

The festival belongs to Kuwana, a city on the Ise Bay coast in the north of Mie Prefecture. According to the official English page of the festival association, the main stage is the area around Kuwana Sosha, the shrine more widely called Kasuga Shrine, in the middle of town. The floats are not the property of the shrine alone. Each belongs to a neighborhood, and the people of that neighborhood pull it, play it and look after it all year.

The official name of the cultural asset is the Kuwana Ishidori Festival Float Procession. It was designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Japan in 2007, according to the festival association, and in 2016 it was inscribed by UNESCO as one of the 33 festivals in the Yama, Hoko, Yatai float festivals in Japan entry.

Stones from the river: the story behind the name

Ishidori means something like stone gathering. The Mie prefectural cultural pages explain that the festival is said to have begun with parishioners collecting stones from a riverbed and offering them to the shrine, a way of helping to tidy and purify the shrine grounds. The prefecture notes that several theories exist about the exact origin, so it is best to treat the details as tradition rather than precise record.

The festival association describes the origin in similar terms: a purification custom in which stones were carried from the Machiya River to the grounds of Kuwana Sosha. The association says the festival dates back more than 400 years, to the early Edo period, and that the simple offering gradually grew into a procession of ornate floats. One travel guide connected to the festival gives the year 1613 for the beginning, while another source says that by 1802 about twenty districts of the castle town had their own floats. Because the dates vary between sources, the safest summary is that the festival has a history of roughly four centuries.

What is lovely about this story is how modest the starting point is. A gift of river stones, carried by townspeople, became a festival of carved wood, metal fittings, lanterns and drums that now draws crowds from across the region.

The saisha floats: drums at the back, gongs on the sides

The floats of Kuwana are called saisha, a word usually translated as festival floats or festival carts. The festival association says more than forty of them take part, while other pages report thirty something or give counts such as 43 for a particular year, so it is wise to say that the number is over forty and varies a little between sources.

A saisha is a rolling stage for sound. According to the festival association, each one carries a large drum at the back and several gongs along the sides, and each neighborhood plays its own rhythms and chants. Another regional guide notes that a float usually carries one big drum and between four and six gongs. The bodies of the floats are decorated with carvings, metal fittings, lacquer and a canopy, and at night they are lit by lanterns.

Kuwana's floats include an unusual design feature. A prefectural tourism guide points out that some of the floats are of a rare three-wheeled design, which is uncommon in float festivals elsewhere in the country. The same source mentions that one of the floats dates to the late Edo period, which gives a sense of how carefully these treasures are handed down.

How the days unfold

The festival runs over a weekend. According to the festival association, it begins at midnight on the Saturday before the first Sunday in August, with a custom called Tatakidashi, the first striking of the gongs. Saturday is known as Shingaku, a kind of rehearsal day when floats move around their own districts, and Sunday is Hongaku, the main day. Mie prefectural pages use these same names.

On Sunday, the floats gather and process through the city, including along the old Tokaido route that once carried travelers between Edo and Kyoto. In the evening comes the highlight, a procession called Tosai in front of Kuwana Sosha. A tourism release for a recent year places this evening performance at about 6:30 p.m., with the floats lined up from the afternoon, and says that crowds gather around the shrine. Late at night, the floats are pulled one behind the other with their lanterns glowing to bring the festival to a close, according to a regional guide.

Start times differ between neighborhoods and between years, and organizers adjust the program, so it is worth checking the official festival site before you go.

Music, voices and the spirit of the neighborhoods

There is no orchestra or stage manager in the usual sense. The performance comes from local people who know the patterns of their own district, trading off between the drum and the gongs while others pull the float. The festival association says each neighborhood has its own rhythm and chants, so the overall effect is a patchwork of related but distinct sounds, all arriving at once when the floats gather.

UNESCO describes the float festivals as events in which people of all ages and genders take part in building, decorating and carrying floats, and where older members pass skills to younger ones. In Kuwana the pattern is easy to see. Children join the neighborhood processions, young adults take on the heavy playing and pulling, and experienced members guide the timing. The loudness is a way of showing pride in the district and, at its heart, a prayer for a healthy and safe community.

Visiting Kuwana: getting there and enjoying the crowds

Kuwana is easy to reach from Nagoya. A tourism release for the festival says the trip takes about twenty minutes from Nagoya Station, while the festival association gives about thirty minutes, so allow half an hour for planning. The festival area is within walking distance of Kuwana Station, which is served by both the JR and Kintetsu lines, and a regional guide estimates about fifteen minutes on foot to the central streets.

A few friendly tips from tourism guides: the Saturday evening rehearsal drumming is generally less crowded than Sunday, so it can be a gentler first taste. On Sunday evening, the area in front of the shrine fills early, so arriving well ahead of the Tosai performance helps. Some shops in the area may close during the festival, so confirm opening times. Summer in Mie is hot and humid, which makes a hat, water and a small towel useful. If you would like to stay close to the music without being in the thickest crowd, a side street along the route can be a good compromise. Because the sound is so strong, families with small children and anyone sensitive to loud noise may want to keep a little distance or bring ear protection.

If you want to understand the floats up close, the Kuwana Ishidori Hall, housed in a 1925 bank building in the Kyomachi area, has displays, video, a corner where you can try the drum and gongs, and a float information search, according to a Mie tourism guide. A regional guide adds that the hall includes a float from 1879.

Local flavors and a UNESCO milestone

Kuwana has long been known for its clams. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries describes shigure hamaguri, large clams simmered in a soy-based broth with ginger, as a preserved food that originated in Kuwana, once a busy inn town, and notes that the clams were treasured as a delicacy as early as the Edo period. A visit around the festival is a good moment to look for it in local shops and restaurants. The same regional guide mentions yoshoku, wine-steamed clams and shigure pilaf, as well as local sweets and shaved ice during the summer.

The city also offers other places to explore if you have extra time. The Nabana no Sato flower park on Nagashima, reachable by bus from Kuwana Station according to the guide, is a popular side trip, and the Kuwana City Museum has local history displays.

The UNESCO listing in 2016 placed Kuwana in the company of float festivals from Aomori to Oita, among them the famed Gion Festival of Kyoto and the Takayama Festival. What sets Kuwana apart is that its spectacle is one you feel and hear as much as see. For anyone curious about how a Japanese town can turn a simple offering of river stones into a roaring summer celebration, the Ishidori Festival is a joyful answer.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is the Kuwana Ishidori Festival held?

It is typically held on the first Sunday of August and the day before, with the festival association describing a start at midnight on the Saturday. The organizers set the exact days and times each year, so check the official festival website before you plan.

Why is it called the noisiest festival in Japan?

Each of the more than forty floats carries a large drum and several gongs, and the neighborhood crews play them together as they gather and process through town. The combined sound is so powerful that tourism pages around Mie and Kuwana use the nickname, and it is a point of local pride.

Is the Ishidori Festival easy to visit from Nagoya?

Yes. Kuwana is roughly twenty to thirty minutes from Nagoya Station by train according to tourism sources, and the central festival area is within walking distance of Kuwana Station. Arrive early on Sunday evening if you want a good view of the Tosai performance at the shrine.

Further reading: the official English page of the Kuwana Ishidori Festival, the Mie prefecture page on the Kuwana Ishidori Festival float procession and the UNESCO page for the float festivals.

Keep exploring: Kamezaki Shiohi Festival: Giant Floats Rolling Into the Tide; Sunari Festival in Kanie: 100 Days of Lanterns on the River; Toride Shrine Kujirabune: Yokkaichi's Land-Based Whale Hunt Floats; Ueno Tenjin Festival: Oni, Danjiri and Autumn in Iga's Castle Town.