Nagasaki Kunchi

   Autumn festival (also known as o-kunchi or o-suwa matsuri) of the Suwa jinja, Nagasaki which involves also the mikoshi of other major Nagasaki shrines. It is held from October 7-9th. Kunchi is a local dialect word meaning autumn festival. The rites include a rapid procession of three mikoshi which are carried by teams of about 50 men down a flight of 73 steps from the Suwa jinja to the torii below then paraded round the town, occasionally being thrown up and caught. There are dances of various kinds including 'Oranda Manzai' ('Dutch comics'), geisha performances and an unusual ja-odori or Chinese snake dance resembling a shishi-mai, in which a dragon-headed snake chasing a tama is manipulated on poles by six men. Nagasaki was a centre of foreign trade and before the Meiji restoration Dutch and Chinese elements played a more prominent role in the festival, which dates from the seventeenth century.

   See also Karatsu kunchi.