Sagicho is a festival that takes place near Kyoto in the neighbouring prefecture of Shiga in a town called Omi-hachiman. Omi-Hachiman (近江八幡市; Omi-Hachiman-shi) is a city in Shiga Prefecture on the east shore of Lake Biwa.
A former castle town and merchant town with many remnants of its historical past, especially at Hachiman-bori canal at the foot of Mt. Hachiman-yama where the castle, built by Hideyoshi’s nephew Hidetsugu, once stood. Locals just call the city “Hachiman” for short.
Omi-Hachiman is also a lake city fronting Lake Biwa as well as Lake Nishinoko where Suigo boat rides are a major attraction. In fact, this Suigo area of waterways and tall reeds has the distinction of being Japan’s first “Important Cultural Scenery” (重要文化的景観). With all these attractions, Omi-Hachiman is quite tourist-oriented with tourist info offices in the train station and Hachiman-bori, as well as signs in English explaining the various sights.
The Sagicho Matsuri festival held in mid-March is also one of Shiga’s most famous festivals climaxing in the burning of floats. At least two other festivals also feature fire: The Hachiman Matsuri in April and Shinoda Hanabi Fireworks in May.
Omi-Hachiman will also be merging with the neighboring township of Azuchi on March 21, 2010. Sagicho is a fire festival observed at Himure Hachimangu Shrine on a weekend in mid-March. On Saturday afternoon, more than a dozen floats leave the shrine to parade the streets, accompanied by young men dressed in the same lively coat and make-up. On Sunday morning, too, they parade through each town. The two-day festival reaches its climax when they set fire to the floats around 8 pm in the temple precincts. Designated an Intangible Folk-Cultural Property by the national government.
Traditionally young men taking part in this festival would’ve dressed up as ladies. But recently, due the incredibly dangerous and violent way in which the floats are made to collide with each other, most of the participants are chinpira (low class, wannabe gangster types) who eschew that tradition while embracing
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