Do you have any
plan for this weekend?
Annual Hojo
Ujiteru Festival will take place on October 28th, Sunday. This
festival is a kind of new local event and it is the 7th year of the festival. The
locals in Hachioji city started this festival to commemorate a Samurai lord
"Ujiteru Hojo" who ruled the area in the Middle Ages. They
hand-crafted Samurai armor and ancient style kimono by themselves and use them
for the Samurai Parade of this Festival. It is difficult to tell by the looks,
but some of the handmade armor was made with iron, same as in the Middle Ages,
and weigh about 30kg!
In addition, every
year some Samurai Parade groups from Kanagawa prefecture and Saitama prefecture
join this festival, because the areas were ruled by the brothers of Ujiteru
Hojo. Hojo Family was a powerful Samurai lord family in the Middle Ages and apparently
the family bond was very strong. Then, locals from the areas started to unite
again through local Samurai Parades. Now folks from Hachioji also join the
events in towns connected to Ujiteru's brothers.
Since this festival is relatively new and held in local area of Hachioji, not so many people rush to the festival every year. So, you can enjoy
magnificent Samurai parade and more performances without a crowd!
From 12:15 pm to 3:30 pm
Performances will take place on the school ground of Moto-hachioji
Elementary School. (At Moto-hachioji Elementary School ground, there will be some food stalls.)
