Festivals
A festival is more than just a celebration — it is a cultural phenomenon that carries both political and religious significance, often serving as a means of borrowing the “gods’ power” to unify the minds and hearts of the people. Through ritual practices and communal participation, festivals strengthen social cohesion and reaffirm shared beliefs and values.
A festival also acts as an intersection point of the past, present, and future. By experiencing and participating in similar activities as our predecessors, we gain a deeper understanding of the spirit and lifestyle of our seniors and ancestors. However, preserving festivals is not merely about looking back; it also requires thinking critically about how to develop these traditions in the present and pass them on to future generations.
About the Kawagoe Festival
The Kawagoe Festival is the largest event in Kawagoe City (located in the Kanto region of Japan), held every year on the third weekend of October. As a notable example of Japanese town festivals, this event dates back over 370 years to 1648, when the lord of Kawagoe Castle promoted the Chinju-Hikawa Festival to give thanks for the protection of Hikawa Shrine. Originally a community festival involving local residents, it has evolved over generations into a major cultural event that attracts many visitors today. The Kawagoe Festival consists of three main parts:
Reitaisai (main festival)
Held annually on October 14th at Kawagoe Hikawa Shrine, this ceremony marks the origin of the Kawagoe Festival.
Jinkosai (associated festival)
The mikoshi (portable shrine) is carried through the shinko-machi (local communities), where the divine spirit is believed to temporarily reside, blessing the community with prosperity and peace. (The mikoshi is a portable shrine used in Shinto rituals, where the deity temporarily inhabits it, symbolizing the descent and protection of the gods.)
Float Event
Decorated festival floats, known as dashi, are paraded through the city by local communities, preserving the extravagant style of the Edo Tenka Matsuri. The procession is accompanied by performances of hayashi (traditional music played with flutes, taiko drums, small drums, and large drums), fostering lively interactions between residents, visitors, and the festive atmosphere that fills the town.
Project Keywords:
Community Empowerment
Participatory Archive
Creative Heritage
Human-AI Co-creation
Research-Creation
Since October 2024, the research team has conducted over two months of fieldwork in Kawagoe City, collaborating with festival organizers and community representatives to recall their memories of the Kawagoe Festival. Through human-AI co-creation workshops, these memories were visualized, resulting in a series of past-dimension audiovisuals, including:
-
Audio descriptions of the past Kawagoe Festival from local residents;
-
AI-generated visuals created by local residents and artists.
-
AI-augmented old photos and visuals provided by local residents.
The research team documented the present-day festival through immersive experiences as observers (tourists).
They used AI-assisted 3D scanning to digitally model tangible cultural heritage, such as shrines and festival floats.
