Okunchi Matsuri

One of the most unusual festivals celebrated in Japan, the Okunchi Festival in Nagasaki dates back to the 17th century, when many Chinese lived in the city and when both Dutch and Chinese traders regularly anchored their ships there. For many years, the ruling shogun of Japan barred foreigners from other Japanese ports, and the few Dutch and Chinese ships that were allowed to stop in Nagasaki were the country's only point of contact with the non-Japanese world. The Okunchi Festival pays tribute to these traders by presenting both a Dutch dance and a Chinese dragon dance, along with processions, street fairs, and other entertainment.

The Dutch and Chinese dances are performed in an open area at the beginning of the many stairs that go to the Suwa Shrine. Two young women execute the Dutch dance, one of whom wears a false moustache and plays the part of a man. The two dancers bend at the waist, exchange coy smiles, and flirt with each other, to the amusement of the crowd. The Chinese dance features four dragons made out of cloth stretched over flexible frames. Each dragon conceals about a dozen dancers, who help it ‘dance’ with snakelike motions by manoeuvring the black rods attached to its body. The dragon dance re-enacts the legendary battle between darkness, symbolised by the dragon, and light, symbolised by the sun—a golden globe atop a long pole. Needless to say—the sun always wins.
In addition to dances, the Okunchi Festival also features the traditional procession of the mikoshi—the ornate palanquin on which the local deity is believed to descend for a ride as it is carried through the streets. The festival ends when the empty mikoshi returns to the shrine after the god has departed.