Japan Guide
Kyūshū
Kushida-jinja
Since its halls are reconstructed every 25 years, the prime attraction is another of the twelve gaudy, top-heavy floats displayed during Hakata's annual Gion Yamakasa festival (July 1–15). The climax of these lively celebrations is a five-kilometre dawn race finishing at Kushida-jinja, in which seven teams manhandle one-ton floats through the streets while spectators douse them with water. Like Kyoto's Gion festival, this harks back to the Kamakura period (1185–1333 AD) when Buddhist priests sprinkled sacred water to drive away summer epidemics. There's a small museum (daily 10am–5pm; ¥300) of shrine treasures in the grounds, not of great interest, but it does stock English-language leaflets about Kushida-jinja and the festival.