Matsudaira District Spring Festival
The Festival begins on Saturday night with the opening ceremony and hand-held fireworks and on Sunday the main festival is held with a procession called Mikoshi-togyo that leaves Matsudaira Toshogou Shrine and goes to Kogetsuin Temple.
It is the Spring Festival in the Matsudaira neighborhood of Toyota City in Achi-ken, held every year in April (Saturday and Sunday) closest to the 17th, which is Ieyasu Tokugawa’s birthday. It is a traditional festival over 400 years old, famous for the origin of Mr. Matsudaira from the Tokugawa family.
The Gongen Matsuri is held annually at Matsudaira Toshogu Shrine in commemoration of the life of Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543–1616), the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate who ruled Japan from 1603 to 1867.
Ieyasu was a descendant of the Matsudaira family, whose ancestral home was located where Matsudaira Toshogu now stands. Matsudaira Toshogu enshrines Ieyasu as the Shinto deity Tosho Daigongen.
The Gongen Matsuri is the oldest festival in Matsudaira Ward. It is known to have been celebrated since the Edo period (1603–1867), although its original format is unclear. The current festival is held on the weekend before April 17, the date of Ieyasu’s death.
SATURDAY: Tezutsu Fireworks
On Saturday night, Matsudaira Toshogu priests draw sacred water from the Ubuyu Well behind the shrine and dedicate it to the deities. It is believed that this water was used to give generations of Matsudaira newborns their first bath.
Drumming and dancing follow the ceremony, and fireworks (Tezutsu) light up the night. Tezutsu are bamboo tubes wrapped in rope and filled with gunpowder that can throw sparks up to 10 meters into the air.
SUNDAY: Matsudaira Toshogou Shrine
On Sunday, a mikoshi (portable Shinto shrine) believed to contain Ieyasu’s spirit is carried from Matsudaira Toshogu Shrine up the hill to Kogetsuin, the Matsudaira family temple where the shogun’s ancestors are buried.
The participants in the procession, all in period costume, enter the temple and offer a prayer at the Matsudaira funerary monument. The mikoshi is then carried back to Matsudaira Toshogu Shrine, concluding the festival.
- Event: Matsudaira Haru Matsuri / Matsudaira Ward Spring Festival.
- Location: Matsudaira Ward – Toyota – Aichi.
- Date: Second Saturday and Sunday in April.
- Saturday Evening: Opening ceremony and fireworks by Hand (Tezutsu).
- Sunday: New opening ceremony and parade with portable Shinto shrine for prayer at Matsudaira Toshogu Shrine.
- Parking: 100 spaces (free)
Aichi, Toyota, Matsudairacho, Akabara 9-1