Kangen-sai, the festival carried out on the sea

**Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the ritual on the sea has been canceled 2021; only the Shinto Ritual in main building of Itsukushima Shrine is going to be held.


Kangen-sai is a festival that is belong to Itsukushima Shrine, held on June 17 of the old lunar calendar (now it is around the beginning of August) at a nearly full moon evening through night, and is taken as one of Japan's three biggest Boat Shinto Rituals.

Now, what is Boat Shinto Ritual?

Shinto ritual is a sacred event that enshrines God. You may have heard the word "Matsuri -festival-"; if that Matsuri is an event related to Shrine(God), then that Matsuri also is one of the Shinto rituals.

When you hear about Matsuri, most of you would imagine Mikoshi and the people who carry it.
Then, what is Mikoshi?

Mikoshi is a place where the god who usually stays in shrines temporarily move in to go around the area during the festival.
Writing in kanji, it becomes 神の(Mi: Gods’)輿(Koshi: kind of a vehicle carried by a person); so, Mikoshi is kind of a vehicle to carry God around.

Boat Shinto Ritual is, as it literally shows, a Shinto ritual that God rides on a boat; just as a god rides Mikoshi, the ritual of god’s riding a boat is called "Boat Shinto Ritual."

Courtesy of Hiroshima Pref.

Now, let’s get back to Kangen-sai. To be explained literally, it can be as below.
"Kangen" - means musical instruments such as classical flutes and stringed instruments and also ancient court music played by those instruments.
"sai" - stands for Matsuri, meaning Shinto rituals.

Back in the 12th century, there was a period in which the society up to that point dramatically changed in the way samurai took power in the court for the first time.
The name of that samurai was Taira-no-Kiyomori.

At that time, it was a popular play among the aristocrats to float the boat on the pond and river and listen to the investigation of the string instruments. And it is said that Taira-no-Kiyomori started to set it as a Shinto ritual to comfort God.

The instruments used there are Japanese traditional flutes, drums, and koto (a type of stringed instrument).

The time passed up to the 18th century. When the kangen-boat carrying a god was sailing in the sea, it was about to capsize due to a storm, and helped by fishing boat from the area called Aga and a little boat from the area called Eba.
Since then, the boats of Aga and Eba take a role to towing the Goza boat that carries the god.

The paddling of these boats is also magnificent.

Courtesy of Hiroshima Pref.

In this festival, the sacred body is handed to the three auxiliary shrines of the Itsukushima Shrine (shrines with deep connections to Itsukushima Shrine).

Therefore, each shrine has its own highlights, and even those who visit repeatedly can see different scenes every time.

Courtesy of Hiroshima Pref.

Kangen-sai Schedule

You can check the time schedule of this festival on the website below.
https://www.miyajima.or.jp/english/event/event_kangen.html
*Please note that the times shown are subject to change.