Kangensai Music Festival

Kangensai Music Festival is a gorgeous show which unfolds atop the surface of the sea and is the largest ceremony at Itsukushima Shrine. Every year in August, a fireworks display held from the waters on the sea in front of Itsukushima Shrine is the largest such display in Western Japan. A colorfully decorated fleet of boats makes a sea parade to the accompaniment of classical court music Gagaku. Three boats are joined together with decorated curtains over all, and lanterns are strung between them making a "stage on the water." Many other decorated boats from other areas near the island come to cruise about and to see and listen. It is a beautiful sight. Families and friends cook and eat together on the boats. At 9 PM as people watch from boats and the shrine's outside corridors, the boats return to shore; and at midnight the deity that had been carried on one of the shrine boats is returned to the shrine. Before ending the festival, the fleet of boats makes three last circles ar-und the shrine.
A religious tradition is still being passed down on this revered and worshiped island, where the gods have resided since time immemorial. Bugaku, or the unique and ancient musical court dance, is a traditional art that was passed down by Taira-no Kiyomori. Jin-Noh, or sacred Noh play, is another theater art which is performed on the Noh stage that sticks out over the sea.
The Kangensai Music Festival is a gorgeous show which unfolds atop the surface of the sea and is the largest ceremony at Itsukushima Shrine. Colorfully decorated boats carrying orchestras aboard cruise along the coast. It started after Taira-no Kiyomori introduced Kangen-no Asobi, or an orchestra festival, which was very popular in Kyoto at that time.

Background History

Kangensai Music Festival of Itsukushima Shrine in Miyajima. Classical court music and dances are performed on the brightly decorated boats.
First debuted by Tairano Kiyomori, a military commander of the Heian Era (8th - 12th Century), the Shrine Ritual is a celebration of music first dedicated on the high seas, then in shrines.

Kangen is music performed by playing the flute, drums and Japanese string instruments used in Japanese court music. In the ancient capital, nobles used to enjoy the graceful orchestra festival by playing these kangen instruments on boats floated on ponds and rivers. Approximately 800 years ago, Taira-no-Kiyomori (1118-1181), the warlord of the latter years of the Heian Period, constructed Itsukishima-Shrine and brought the then prevalent customs to this land in order to hold a ceremony dedicated to the gods. This Shinto ritual, staged on the Seto Inland Sea, later developed into a graceful yet dynamic festival reminiscent of the Heian Period when the culture of the nobility flourished, and is now ranked among the three finest float festivals in Japan.