Chairman Tsugami of our school was recommended by the Hakata Gion Yamakasa Promotion Association and was selected as a notable figure for the "Group Yamakasa Display" held on Saturday, July 13th, and led the way up the stage during the first leg.
The "Group Yamakasa Display" of the Hakata Gion Yamakasa, registered as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage and designated as an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Japan, is the only event in which the Yamakasa festival from the Hakata area is carried into the Fukuoka area, and is a popular Yamakasa event nationwide.
On the day, Chairman Tsugami took to the eastern stage of this year's second Yamakasa and ran 1.3 kilometers from Gofukumachi intersection in Hakata to Fukuoka City Hall in Fukuoka.
The exchange between our university and Hakata Gion Yamakasa began in 2018 as part of the university's 60th anniversary celebrations, with the Yamakasa Project, which aims to support the local community through the Hakata Gion Yamakasa.
In 2021, the Tou-ryu decorated Yamakasa was open to the public from October 1st to November 30th at Okusu Arena 2020. To commemorate the university's exhibition of the decorated Yamakasa, a Shinto priest from Kushida Shrine dedicated the decorated Yamakasa to the gods, and Chancellor Tsugami and other university officials attended wearing long happi coats. In addition, at the ceremony and celebration commemorating the 60th anniversary of the founding of our university held on October 30th of the same year, a celebration was held by the Hakata Matsubayashi Chigo Tou-ryu and a closing performance of the Hakata Celebration Song Teippon.
In addition, in order to help foreigners understand the Hakata Gion Yamakasa, our university has created and installed information boards with explanations of the Azuma no Kazari Yamakasa and Kaki Yamakasa translated into three languages: English, Chinese, and Korean. This has been a continuous effort since 2019, except for 2020, when the dedication was postponed.
In addition, at the request of the Hakata Gion Yamakasa Promotion Association, students from the Graduate Graduate School of Fine Arts and the Department of Photography and Film at our Faculty of Art and Design take photos of all the decorated Yamakasa floats at 13 locations in Fukuoka City and donate them to the association every year. The photos are posted on the association's official website.
It is a great honor to have been selected as one of the notable people to run up the stage on the first leg of the parade on the recommendation of the association, and it is a culmination of the local exchanges that have been building between our university, the association, and Yamakasa Toryu.
Our university will continue to work to contribute to the local community as a university that moves forward and develops together with the local community.
Hakata Gion Yamakasa Official Website (Hakata Gion Yamakasa 2024)
