Ofunato put a shrine on a fishing boat for the first time in 16 years
Niiyama Shrine's autumn festival, paused since the 2011 tsunami, sent a mikoshi around Okirai Bay. Neighbors answered with dances they had practiced for months.
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A portable shrine rode a fishing boat around Okirai Bay on October 11, the first time in 16 years that Niiyama Shrine in Ofunato has held its autumn festival. NHK reported on October 13, 2026, that the shrine stages the event every four years, and that it had not happened since the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Neighboring districts helped revive it.
The mikoshi left the shrine at about 8 a.m. under a clear sky, went aboard, toured the water, and came back to shore. Residents then offered a folk performance. A boy in second grade who danced told NHK he managed it with skills from two months of practice. A resident whose house was destroyed in the tsunami played a drum and said people had wanted the festival back, and that he wants to help pass it on.
The head of the organizing committee told NHK the day was a way to mark a point in the town's recovery and to move toward what comes next. The report is about the festival being held. It is not a claim that recovery is finished.
For the classroom
A fishing boat in Ofunato, Japan, carried a portable shrine around the bay for the first time in 16 years. NHK reported the festival on October 13, 2026. Niiyama Shrine in Okirai used to hold it every four years in autumn. It stopped after the earthquake and tsunami in 2011. This year, neighboring districts helped bring it back. On Sunday morning the shrine left around 8, rode the boat, and came back to shore, where people danced. A second grader said he danced well after two months of practice. The festival is a gathering the town chose to hold again. It does not undo the disaster.
- What did the boat carry, and where did it go?
- How long did the second grader practice before he danced?
- What tradition would you want to practice with your class?
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