*Updated 2023 version of this blog post here.

The annual Maihara (Maibara) Hikiyama Festival was held on Oct. 9-11, 2010 near Maibara Station. I went to see it on Oct. 10 (Sun.). It rained in the morning and the floats were covered with blue vinyl sheets, but the rain stopped by early afternoon and I watched it at Yutani Shrine. Google Map

The festival was modeled after the more famous Nagahama Hikiyama Matsuri. Although the Maihara Hikiyama Matsuri is a smaller festival with only three floats (only two of them appear during the festival), it was no less impressive with the highly-trained grade school boys performing kabuki on the ornate floats.

Here’s the video:

Video here: http://youtu.be/YkNy7L7dkqU

Photos here: https://photoguide.jp/pix/thumbnails.php?album=808