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       A float is pulled through the downtown area during the Kishiwada Danjiri Festival, held for the first time in two years, in Kishiwada, Osaka Prefecture, on Sept. 18, 2021. (Mainichi/Rei Kubo)=Click/tap photo for more images.

       KISHIWADA, Osaka -- The annual Kishiwada Danjiri Festival was held in this Osaka Prefecture city on Sept. 18 and 19 for the first time in two years, with some measures to prevent coronavirus transmissions.

       Though the festival, a highlight of autumn in the prefecture's Senshu region, has some 300 years of history, it was called off last year due to the pandemic. The Kishiwada Municipal Government called on people to refrain from coming to the festival in person to prevent infections.

       While "danjiri" floats from 22 communities in the Kishiwada district and 12 communities in the Haruki district usually dash through the city's downtown area, multiple communities did not join this year. Participating communities put some distance between the floats and shortened their time on parade as virus countermeasures.

       A float control technique called "yarimawashi" -- making swift turns at crossroads -- is one of the festival's spectacles. But this time red-and-white cloth screens were set up along streets in front of Nankai Electric Railway Corp.'s Kishiwada Station, where many spectators gather to see yarimawashi in normal years, to prevent people from gathering to watch. Organizers sought to hold the entire event without spectators during the current coronavirus state of emergency.

       Danjiri floats began to be pulled by people from each participating community shouting "sorya, sorya" at 6 a.m. on Sept. 18, dashing through the downtown area including streets in front of Kishiwada Station, despite occasional showers due to the approach of Typhoon Chanthu.

       A 43-year-old local woman said, "Though I'm a little worried about having the festival during the pandemic, hearing the noisemakers such as the drums makes me feel uplifted."

       (Japanese original by Atsushi Inagaki, Osaka City News Department)

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