Hakata Gion Yamakasa Festival, Fukuoka City, Japan. Editorial Image

The Hakata Gion Yamakasa festival dates back around 770 years and it is an annual festival associated with Kushida Jinja, a Shintō shrine housing the guardian spirit of Fukuoka’s old Hakata district.The floats, called Yamakasa, are divided into two groups. The Kakiyama are the smaller, carryable floats, that are raced through the town, while the Kazariyama are stationary floats, that are built up to 13 metres high and often depict historic or mythical events of Japanese culture. Originally the Kakiyama and Kazariyama were one and the same, with the large floats being carried through the city. However the Yamakasa were split up in 1898 when the electrical power lines in Hakata became too common for large Yamakasa to be carried through the streets.