The Nada Kenka Matsuri (Nada Fight Festival) is one I have been looking forward to all year. It is probably the most popular festival in Himeji and there are thousands upon thousands of people who attend. It is so popular because of the excitement value. It is very dangerous, risky, frightening, yet colourful and beautiful all at the same time. The Nada Festival goes for two days.
On the first day, all the seven districts of Nada (each with their own local colours) carry the shrines for everyone to see and appreciate. These shrines are so heavy that they would weigh about a tonne, so there are around fifty men all helping to carry them. Even still, you can sometimes catch them shaking because it is so heavy.
The second day is when all the action happens! This is the day where they bring out the shrines that are not so delicate and beautiful-looking so that they can bang them together and fight with them. It is the most horrific-looking exercise seeing these shrines being banged together and falling and rolling into the crowd. There is no way that I would want to be stuck in the middle of all of that!
We were lucky enough to get seats from Tina’s teacher at work who has a friend that let us sit in special seats on the second level. We were safe from all the scary stuff that was going on down below, so we could freely take pictures and enjoy the festival from above. This is the man and his wife who let us sit with them during the festival.They were also nice enough to buy us a bento lunch on the first day. It was delicious, but so filling that I couldn’t eat it all! Just looking at it now makes me hungry again!
At one stage, all the shrines moved to a different location by the mountain and we weren’t able to get seats. This was really unfortunate because we ended up at the bottom (like Gladiator) about to get crushed by all these huge heavy shrines and thousands of people! It was really scary being in there, but kind of exciting at the same time! 
On our way to the next section of the festival, we passed some men who were wearing yellow bands around their heads called hachimaki. They were kind enough to give us the hachimaki to wear for the rest of the day, so that we looked like we were all getting in the action of it too!
Another part of the festival which is very unique is the costumes. The men wear a white g-string-type thing on the bottom that is called a mawashi. Many years ago, this was what the men used to wear as their everyday clothes. Now they only wear them during festivals…not that I’m complaining! Some of the men also wore a happi which is like an open vest. 
They come in all different bright colours and it looks so colourful when they are all mixed in together wearing their outfits. We managed to get two really good pictures of the costumes for your viewing pleasure!
4 comments:
This festival was amazing! Not complaining about what the guys were wearing either!
Amazing!!!
I will be in Himeji on the 14th october this year. So I'll see it :o)
But I am wondering when start the matsuri (morning, noon, afternoon or evening). Maybe you can answer me? It would be helpfull for my journey's organisation.
!!!! Thanks a lot !!!!
I think I went at around 10 or 11am and it went all through the day, into the afternoon. We left before it finished, so I don't know how long it goes for. You can easily catch a train to Nada from Himeji Station. Just ask and someone will help you find the right route. You should definitely go to this festival, though because it is the most amazing and unique one I went to in Japan. You will love it!
too bad i went to Japan in November so i wasn't able to attend to one. I'll link your site for this info. Took a photo of the festival from the museum and i want to write about it. Thanks so much!
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