Ohara Matsuri: How Kagoshima's Autumn Festival Grew Out of Recovery
Held every November in Kagoshima City, Ohara Matsuri is one of Kagoshima's three major festivals. Its name comes from an Edo-period folk song, and the festival itself began during the postwar recovery of a city that had been largely burned to the ground during the Pacific War.
Ohara Matsuri is best known for its mass group dance set to the folk song Kagoshima Ohara-bushi. Given that air raids on Kagoshima in 1945 destroyed ninety three percent of the city, the circumstances of the festival's founding carry real weight.
This article covers where the festival's name comes from, how it connects to the city's postwar recovery, and how today's group-dance format actually took shape, all with sources.
Where the name Ohara Matsuri comes from
The festival takes its name from the folk song Ohara-bushi, and it began in 1949 as part of the city's sixtieth-anniversary celebrations.
Ohara-bushi
The festival takes its name from Ohara-bushi, one of Kagoshima's best known folk songs. The story goes that in the early Edo period, samurai from Aku in Hyuga Province sang the tune while on campaign, and after returning home, samurai from Harara, a district of Kagoshima, wrote new lyrics and began singing it themselves. As it spread across the Kagoshima region, Harara picked up the diminutive prefix o, and the song became known as Ohara-bushi.
Born out of postwar recovery
Kagoshima City endured eight separate air raids between March and August of 1945, which destroyed ninety three percent of the city, and most of its festivals had been suspended as a result. Four years after the war, in 1949, residents determined to rebuild launched Ohara Matsuri to mark the sixtieth anniversary of Kagoshima's founding as a city. The first festival, held on November 15 of that year, was organized jointly by the city, the Kagoshima Chamber of Commerce, and the Minami-Nippon Shimbun newspaper.
Two turning points that shaped the festival
In 1961, a group-dance format widened participation citywide, and in 1998 the festival gained a sister event in Tokyo's Shibuya district.
The introduction of group dance troupes
Ohara Matsuri originally ran as a parade, with participation centered on women's associations. In 1961, organizers borrowed the group-dance, or odori-ren, format from Tokushima's Awa Odori festival, opening participation to neighborhood associations and workplace groups and giving the event more of the character of a citywide community gathering. The song Hanya-bushi was added to the group dance repertoire in 1963, and from 1968 onward the festival date was fixed to November 3, Culture Day.
The Shibuya-Kagoshima Ohara Matsuri
In 1998, Tokyo's Shibuya ward launched its own Shibuya-Kagoshima Ohara Matsuri. Held every year on the third Sunday of May along Dogenzaka and Bunka-dori, it features dance parades set to songs including Kagoshima Ohara-bushi and the Shibuya Ondo. That same year, the original Kagoshima festival added Tokyo Ohara and the Shibuya Ondo to its own group-dance repertoire.
FAQ
When is Ohara Matsuri held?
It runs every year on November 2 and 3, with a night festival on the evening before the main event on the third. In 2020, the night festival was suspended and the main festival scaled down due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Is Ohara Matsuri actually run by Kagoshima City itself?
Not exactly. It is organized by the Ohara Matsuri Promotion Association, a body legally separate from the city government, even though the mayor chairs it and its office sits inside city hall. In 2024, when a group appealed a decision about its participation, the city rejected the appeal specifically on the grounds that the association's decisions do not count as an administrative action by the city, underscoring that distinction.
Has the festival ever been cancelled?
Yes. It was cancelled in 1951 due to Typhoon Ruth, in 1955 due to another major typhoon, and in 1988 out of respect during Emperor Showa's final illness. In 2020 it was not cancelled outright but was held in a sharply reduced form because of the coronavirus pandemic.
What songs are danced during the group dance?
The core repertoire is Kagoshima Ohara-bushi and Kagoshima Hanya-bushi, joined later by the Shibuya Ondo and Tokyo Ohara after the Tokyo sister event began.