Carpenters making town-icon ”danjiri” (festival floats), ”Izutani Koumuten”

Can’t have festivals without them

”Danjiri” is known from the ”Danjiri Festival” of Kishiwada (in Osaka). With a weight of 4 tons, ”danjiri” are pulled about by men with all their might. It is quite an amazing sight to watch them as they turn corners without losing speed.

”Danjiri” in kanji is written as ”a car on land”. It is a kind of festival float. There are many festivals in Japan in which floats or stalls are pulled about at high speeds with high energy. ”Izutani Koumuten” is a company of carpenters who make and repair the ”danjiri” used in festivals.

Breathtaking appearance and adornments

One ”danjiri” costs several tens of millions of yen, and some may even cost over 100 million yen. That is why municipal districts can only renew their ”danjiri” once every few decades. Most of them are repaired to be used for the following year.
At Izutani Koumuten, repairing ”danjiri” makes up the majority of their work. However, Nakata was lucky to be able to watch the carpenters as they made a new ”danjiri”.

4 meters high, weighing 4 tons, the size was incredible in itself, but what was even more impressive was the fine and elaborate carved decorations on the wooden ”danjiri”. It was breathtaking to observe the craftsmen as they carved flowers and birds on the wooden chassis.

”Danjiri” is the symbol of the town. The carpenters here are passionate about their work because they look forward to seeing the faces of the people enjoying the festivals.