Nagasaki

During the Warring States period, Europeans came to spread Christianity in Nagasaki, and there were many Christians, who were called kirishitan. During the Edo period, however, the Edo military government issued an edict prohibiting Christianity and adopted a policy known as sakoku (national isolation) that continued for 200 years. However, Nagasaki alone was opened to foreign countries as a port for trading with the Netherlands and China, and so fulfilled an important role. Nagasaki remained a center for trade during the Meiji period, as well, and some foreigners' houses still stand on a rise overlooking the harbor. One of those is the Glover House, built by an Englishman named Glover in 1863, which is Japan's first western-style wooden building.

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The Okunchi festival takes place on October 7-9 at Suwa Shrine in Nagasaki City. On the 7th and 9th, the Ja-odori (snake dance) shown in the photograph takes place in the shrine precincts, and various other dances can also be seen.

The Okunchi in Nagasaki City is known as the most splendid of the many Okunchi festivals that take place in the Kitakyûsyu region. It came to be called Okunchi ("the 9th day" in dialect) because it was held as an autumn festival on the 9th day of the 9th month in the old lunar calendar, which is also known as chôyô (the repeated 9 day). The Okunchi was originally a harvest festival. There are many places that celebrate three festival days, under the name Mikunichi ("three 9 days"), on the 19th and 29th of the 9th month as well as on the 9th. There is a custom of making rice with red beans and adzuki beans with rice, and eating rice cakes made with rice flour, and sankugayu gruel. This has now become a very boisterous festival day with many dances and the gorgeous decorated floats that symbolize Nagasaki.