Oshima Port Festival’s Racing Boat Custom Model – Kaidenma (櫂伝馬)

Kushimoto in Wakayama prefecture has the distinction of being the southernmost point of Japan’s main island of Honshū. The town is also the location of the Oshima Minato Matsuri, a traditional port festival held in early February every year. I don’t really know that much about the festival, except that it includes many Shinto rituals, lion dances (shishimai), and an ocean boat race using oar-powered boats called kaidenma.

The following photos, I took from the Kushimoto town website’s Minato Matsuri page, which you can visit here: https://www.town.kushimoto.wakayama.jp/kanko/event/minatomaturi.html

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