• Kunisaki Peninsula
  • Traditional Arts・Festival

Horan-Enya

Photography/TAKEUCHI Yasunori

a Plunge to Pray for Good Fishing

 Cold winds across the river’s surface. The valiant cry fending them off, “Horan-Enya”… When a ceremony is performed before the audience by the riverside, young people scantily clad in traditional belts dive from the boat into the icy cold waters with a splash and start swimming. Applause and cheers well forth from the shore and from the boat. New years in Bungotakada arrive from the Katsura River.

 “Horan-Enya”, the name of the festival and the oaring call that bellows from the ship, is thought to stem from either hourai eiya (come wealth, and spread) or hourai e, hourai e (to the Mount Hourai, a mystical mountain). It has been designated as an Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Oita. Once an event on New Year’s, the date is currently set according to the time of high tide.

 Treasure boats decorated gaily with good-haul flags, banners and bamboo with colorful paper carry young people, festival bands and dancers, using the rising tides to make their way from Konpira Shrine at the mouth of the river to Wakamiya Hachiman Shrine in the heart of the city. Flowing northwest through town, Katsura River serves as a path for winter winds to blow through town when the barometric pressure is high to the west and low to the east, and the boats ride the tailwinds on the way back.

 This festival started during the mid-Edo period. At the time, Takada was an enclave of the Shimabara Clan (Nagasaki Prefecture), and Takada Encampment was located here. It was an important port for cargo ships carrying tributes of rice and supplies to storehouses in Shimabara and Osaka, and the festival originates from prayers for the safe voyage of these ships. It was also meant for wishing for good catches of fish in the Buzen Sea. Similar events are held nearby in Onomichi, Hiroshima Prefecture and Matsue, Shimane Prefecture.

 Bungotakada is known for its “Showa Town”. Many sightseers come here. However, until recently, nearly all the shops were closed on the day of Horan-Enya, a festival involving the entire town. But that is such a waste. Gradually more and more stores decided to open, and the town teems with out-of-towners celebrating the arrival of the new year after the festival.

Young people calling out valiantly jump into the icy cold river from treasure boats decorated gaily with good-haul fishing flags and banners.