Held every year on the banks of the Kitakami River, Ishinomaki Kawabiraki Festival features a wide variety of events, including boat-rowing competitions, memorial services, parades, fireworks, and the Ryuto Ceremony, where 5,000 lanterns are released from the Kitakami River’s Utsumi Bridge.
The festival was originally established in 1916 as a memorial service for the those who perished at sea, as well as an expression of gratitude to the military commander who excavated the Kitakami River —or, as the word “kawabiraki” implies, “opened the river”— during the Edo Period. In the aftermath of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, the festival transformed into a celebration for the city’s history and its ongoing recovery efforts. The Kawabiraki Festival is a fantastic opportunity to enjoy the culture of this coastal town all the while learning about the Great East Japan Earthquake.
