#shingenko

On April 4, I went with a big group of friends to the Shingen-ko matsuri (信玄公祭り) in Kofu, Yamanashi. This is considered Japan’s biggest samurai festival/parade, and one of the largest festivals in Yamanashi prefecture! It’s a 3 day long festival dedicated to Takeda Shingen, who is considered to be the most famous samurai/feudal lord in Japanese history. 

He’s got a nice face, yeah? Click here to learn more about him!

During the festival’s big parade, over 1,600 infantrymen gather in front of Kofu station, and march through the streets of central Kofu, in a similar fashion to how Shingen’s army would march before going out to battle. The great Shingen himself even makes an appearance, played by a different famous Japanese TV actor every year. More on this later!

This is just a very small portion of the festival that I shot from the top of Kofu Castle! On the far left there’s a stage where many bands and entertainment groups performed. The festival took place during cherry blossom season, so it was absolutely beautiful to walk around and take pictures of the sakura trees.

The food there was so delicious! I helped myself to some warm ramen and it really hit the spot. There was seating at the stand, but it was all taken, so the woman running it was kind enough to give me a tray so that I could sit wherever I wanted and enjoy my meal. I will never cease to be amazed by Japanese courtesy, especially in food service.

After walking around and enjoying all the entertainment (including a trained monkey!), it was time to watch the samurai parade! Each group of samurai wore the armor and banners of the clans who served Shingen, and I gotta say, I was really impressed with how amazing everyone looked. I’ve read that the costumes are very accurate, but since I’m not well versed in samurai history I can’t say for sure... I totally believe it though!

These guys were hanging out before the parade and I had to get a picture with them!

This is a video of all the clans marching out. The video taken in the dark is the grand finale of sorts, when each clan is announced to the crowd, and the big man himself comes out on a fantastic horse (though looking back through my old footage it looks like I didn’t catch that part... all my batteries were so low... lesson learned for sure)!!