The Kazo Citizen’s Peace (Heiwa) Festival is held on May 3rd annually. May 3rd is a national public holiday that falls during Golden Week. The festival is a type of spring festival, but the highlight is the jumbo carp streamer. It is the world’s longest carp shaped windsock. The carp streamer is a symbol of boys day which falls on May 5th. The streamer is lifted by a crane during the festival.
In a normal year more than 100,000 people visit this festival annually. In order to prevent the spread of Coronavirus in 2021 the city decided to cancel the festival. However, in 2022, they raised the carp streamer, but the rest of the festival was greatly downscaled. In 2023, for the first time in four years, the festival is on as normal. That is, on the same scale as before the pandemic. However, the classic car festival will not be on this year (its usually on in conjunction with the peace festival).
Jumbo Carp Streamer
Kazo City has been manufacturing carp streamers for more than a hundred years. The jumbo carp was designed and manufactured in 1988 as a public relations stunt for Kazo City, during the Saitama Expo. It had its maiden voyage in 1989! In Japanese they say that the carp streamers “swim”, but I think we are inclined to say “fly” in English. Since 1989 the giant carp takes to the sky annually at the Peace Festival.
In 2021 we couldn’t see the giant streamer in person, but Kazo city shared a video of it in flight from a previous event:
The featured image, at the top of the post, is from the Saitama Prefecture’s English language tourism website.
Festival
The festival is on from 9 am to 2.30 pm. From 9 am there are live performances and an opening ceremony of sorts. The koinobori windsock is raised at 11.30 am. After which there are stage performances. The windsock is flown again at 1.30 pm. If there is heavy rain on May 3rd they will postpone the raising of the jumbo carp streamer until May 4th.
Although, they say it is on the same scale as pre-pandemic. There are a couple of events missing from the 2023 line up. For example, the aforementioned classic car festival. Also, there is no mention of the ferry ride. However, the ferry ride was only reintroduced in 2019 for the first time in 47 years. They also don’t have specifics for the flea market which is normally on during this festival. Furthermore, they currently have no information for the “JC Hiroba” children’s area, which was a staple before the pandemic.
Access
The free shuttle bus is back for the first time since 2019. The free shuttle bus operates on the day of the festival from Kazo Station’s North exit. It goes about every 20 minutes between 8.30 am and 3.40 pm. It takes about 25 minutes to get to Tonegawa Kasenjiki Ryokuchi Park from the station by bus. There are also a couple of other free shuttle buses for locals, for example, from Kazo Kita Junior High School.
The nearest Interchange is the Kazo Interchange on the Tohoku expressway. They advise where possible to avoid coming by car as the area is very congested. Parking is available along the embankment near the flood control center. However, please note that the land is very uneven, often mucky and you need to use a dirt road to get to it.
Other Golden Week events in Kazo: The excellent Kazo City Kisai Wisteria Festival in 2023.
Find other things to do during Golden Week 2023 in Saitama here.