Sekigahara Battle Festival 2024

 20 oct

Sekigahara

A cool change, low 20s

The main reason I had made my way into a hotel last night was so that I could go to the sekigahara battle festival today. The Tokai nature trail does pass through sekigahara but I was going to reach it a weekend too late.

The festival went from 10 to 4 and had live performances, stalls, food trucks, dancing, singing, the main event which was a procession of warriors and then a dramatic retelling of the battle and finally mochi throwing.

"This battle was fought by the forces of Tokugawa Ieyasu against a coalition led by Ishida Mitsunari, from which several commanders defected before or during the battle, leading to a Tokugawa victory. The Battle of Sekigahara was the largest battle of Japanese feudal history and is often regarded as the most important.

Mitsunari's defeat in the battle of Sekigahara is generally considered to be the beginning point of the Tokugawa shogunate, which ruled Japan for another two and a half centuries until 1868."

The battle began at dawn on the 21 October 1600 and was over by 2pm the same day.

There were 5 rounds of mochi throwing, the first 2 were very tame and done from a small stage for the children. They then brought out a truck with a raised platform for the adults. This session was as brutal as the one at the boneto festival. I did manage to catch a mochi (after it hit me in the face) and then promptly left the crazy crowd.

One of the most surprising sights today was actually this lady in a historical english/western ensemble, perhaps from the 1600s to fit in with the time of the battle.