Wajima's Largest Festival
In this festival, huge paper lanterns (kiriko) over ten meters high are paraded around town along with a portable shrine. The climax of the parade is the lighting of a special torchlight on the beach. This umbrella-shaped torchlight is made of straw, and sticks with strips of holy paper (gohei) attached to the ends are stuck into this. As the torch burns these sticks and the gohei begin falling out, and men wearing loincloths scramble for them because tradition has it that a man who gets this holy paper can win at anything. These huge paper laterns, or kiriko, are essential to festivals in all parts of Noto. Among all such festivals, kiriko in Wajima are the most beautiful, since they are decorated in different ways with Wajima lacquer.(August 23rd - 25th)
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