The beauty of the Hamamatsu Kite Festival
I visited Hamamatsu Kite Festival on May 5th, 2022 and it was a wonderful moment I have never seen. I spend a long time seeing the kites flying and enjoyed it a lot.
The Hamamatsu Festival held May 3-5 is independent of Shinto and Buddhist temple observations. It is a festival to celebrate the birth of a child. Various events are held at two main venues each with their main attraction “a kite-flying battle” at Nakatajima beach and “a parade of palace floats” downtown. It is Hamamatsu’s most bustling time of year as the city population swells to 1.5 million people.
The history of kite-flying in Hamamatsu dates back to the Eiroku era year (1558-1569) more than 450 years ago. According to “Hamamatsu Castle history” written in the Edo era, a large kite was flown for Yoshihiro the oldest son of the Prince of Hikuma castle (Hamamatsu Castle) of 飯尾豊前守 (いいおぶぜんのかみ) boasting the most important and oldest kite-flying history.