Learn about the floats at the heart of the Kurosaki Gion Yamakasa festival in Kitakyushu and meet their maker, Tomita Yoshihisa, in this talk celebrating the opening of the exhibition Tradition/Rebellion: Coming-of-Age Style in Kitakyushu, Japan at Japan House London.
In a workshop in Tagawa city in Fukuoka Prefecture, third-generation craftsman Tomita Yoshihisa creates figures of warriors, dragons, leaping horses, billowing clouds and raging waves, among other decorative elements for festival floats. Paraded through towns across the Chikuhō area and Kitakyushu during annual festivals, and lit up at night, the floats bring joy to spectators of all ages.
Among the festivals featuring Tomita Yoshihisa’s work is the Kurosaki Gion Yamakasa, one of Kitakyushu’s three major summer festivals. With a history of more than 400 years, it is designated an Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Fukuoka Prefecture.
In conversation with Japan House London’s Director of Programming Simon Wright, Tomita Yoshihisa talks about his family’s craft, his inspirations and workmanship. Through images and objects from his workshop, he introduces the floats’ decorative elements and shows how they are made and assembled into a spectacle of colour and light. The talk also includes a short demonstration of one of the elements that define his work.
This event is part of a series celebrating the opening of the exhibition Tradition/Rebellion: Coming-of-Age Style in Kitakyushu, Japan which is on display in the Gallery at Japan House London from 11 November 2026 to 18 April 2027.
Images: courtesy of Tomita Yoshihisa
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About the speaker
Tomita Yoshihisa
Born in 1987 in Tagawa, near Kitakyushu City in Fukuoka Prefecture, Tomita Yoshihisa is the third-generation owner of Tomita Ningyō, a workshop that creates the elaborate figures adorning festival floats featured in annual festivals in the Chikuhō area of central Fukuoka Prefecture and Kitakyushu City. Bringing his own perspective and distinctive style to yamakasa floats, he is one of the region’s leading young ningyō-shi (‘doll makers’).
A gallery of 3 items.
