The climax to the event is “Oiyama,” held on the final day. Originally, the start of this event went by the old Japanese calendar, and was held at the rather roundabout time of daybreak on June 15th – also the day to welcome in the full moon. Now, the event is held at 4:59am on July 15th each year. Why such a specific start time? This is a “privilege” awarded to the starting Yamakasa team only. Each of the teams (or “nagare” as they’re officially known) begin the race 5 minutes apart, but only the first team out has permission to perform a circuit of the Kushida Shrine grounds singing “Hakata iwai medeta,” the traditional folk song of Hakata. So instead of starting the race right on 5am, the first team out starts one minute earlier to account for this ritual.

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