It looks like he raised his hand to signal he was okay while being taken away in the ambulance, but he fell on his shoulder and took a nasty blow to the head—I really wonder if he’s actually alright. This is a different angle of the fall accident during the Kishiwada Danjiri test run that I mentioned two posts ago.
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The “Most Dangerous Festival in Japan” Created by High-Speed Cornering
The “Yari-mawashi” (high-speed cornering) is the signature maneuver of the Kishiwada Danjiri Festival; it involves steering a float weighing over four tons around a street corner at a right angle while moving at full speed—a feat the city itself regards as the festival’s most thrilling and dynamic spectacle. Kyodo News has described the event as “Japan’s most dangerous festival,” noting that the risk of participants riding atop the float being thrown off by centrifugal force during sharp turns is an inherent part of its structure.
Accidents involving the floats have occurred in other ways as well; in 2023, a walkway over a waterway collapsed while spectators had gathered on it during a test run in Izumiotsu City, and it was later revealed that the aging structure had not undergone inspection for many years.
Balancing the appeal of this traditional event—which boasts a history spanning over three centuries—with safety management remains an ongoing challenge for the festival as a whole.
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