Yamaguchi City Ouchi Culture Experience Tours: Yamaguchi Gion Festival Course and Yamaguchi Tanabata Chochin Festival Course

A tour that offers special experiences and interaction with Ouchi culture at Yamaguchi Gion Festival, one of Yamaguchi’s three major festivals, and the Yamaguchi Tanabata Chochin Festival, one of Japan’s three major fire festivals

Enjoy the Yamaguchi Gion Festival, one of the three major festivals in Yamaguchi, and the Yamaguchi Tanabata Chochin Festival, one of the three major fire festivals in Japan, both of which have links to the Ouchi clan.
The Yamaguchi Gion Festival Course is a special experience plan that includes explanations by the chief priest of Yasaka Jinja Shrine on the eve of the festival, and a chance to take part in rituals that are not normally available to the public, such as carrying a portable shrine. Enjoy a meal and local Yamaguchi sake while watching the festival from special seating.
The Yamaguchi Tanabata Chochin Festival Course is a special experience plan that allows participants to interact with locals through activities like lighting lanterns and carrying a portable shrine.
The Onari Procession Experience Plan features an event based around the Ouchi clan—powerful daimyo lords in western Japan who built a cultural sphere to rival Kyoto using the wealth they gained through trade with Ming China around the fifteenth century. This reproduction of the Onari procession and banquet is based on Japan’s largest banquet of the Medieval period, which was held on March 5, 1500, when Ouchi Yoshioki entertained Ashikaga Yoshitane, the former shogun of the Muromachi Shogunate. At this event, a total of about 20 people, representing the shogun, Ouchi clan members, and the shogun's entourage, will wear Muromachi period costumes, ride horses, and take part in a parade through designated Ouchi cultural areas. Afterwards, you can enjoy a traditional banquet at Yuda Sansuien Garden. Dine on a Ouchi-gozen meal while watching traditional entertainment, as if you yourself were at this historical banquet. This is your opportunity to become a shogun and truly immerse yourself in the Ouchi culture of Japan’s Medieval period.
This is a comfortable tour that comes with a nationally licensed guide-interpreter, a tour guide, and private car.