What is "takengei"

Takengei is a Japanese autumn festival. It is organized in the Wakamiya- Inari- Jinja shrine in Nagasaki City. Since 2003, it is officially registered as part of Japan’s Folk Intangible Patrimony.

Takengei is an annual two-day event organized on October 14 and 15. Two 10 meters high bamboo poles are erected inside the sanctuary; they are called “male bamboo” and “female bamboo” . Accompanied by traditional drums, flutes and shamisen, two people in white garb and with a fox mask climb up the poles and declare to each other their love at the top of the bamboos. They also accomplish some kind of acrobatic performance.

At the end, the fox at the top of the male bamboo throws around some small rice cakes ( mochi), pulls out of a pocket in his garb a chicken and lets it fly to the ground. Eventually both foxes go down the poles with a spectacular slide.

The festival has been organized in Wakamiya-Inari-Jinja since 1896; earlier, another shrine in Nagasaki City used to host the festival.