Tonami Yotaka Matsuri - Japanese Float Crashing Festival 砺波夜高祭
Tonami Yotaka Matsuri is a summer festival in Tonami city of Toyama prefecture where colorful ornate floats are rushed at each other to crash into each other like a demolition derby with floats. The floats are pulled through streets lined with illustrated paper lanterns then they bring them together for the tsukiawase. Tsukiawase is the climatic collision event where two floats are rushed at each other and crashed together. The float handlers yank on ropes as they shout trying to push their opponents back. They crash together three times before the next contenders come together for their turn. A winner is declared but it's hard to tell which one wins except in the obvious cases where a float gets knocked back on its frame. All of this is done to entertain the gods and bring good harvests in the fall. The festival takes place in mid-June on the weekend from 7pm. ...