“Ōtsu Bon Boat Floating” is a historic Bon Festival event held in the early morning of August 16th by families welcoming their first Bon festival.

The boats, made of wood (in the past also made from straw), are equipped in the center with an engine room and chimney fashioned from tin cans and other materials. At the stern are a rudder and oar, while the bamboo or wooden mast is adorned with a white sail on which the ship's name or the deceased's posthumous Buddhist name is written.

Incense sticks are burned in the engine room, and at the bow and rudder, effigies made from straw, cucumbers, and eggplants are placed as the boat's masters. The Bon boats are gathered at the Ōtsu port, and after a joint memorial service and the performance of the “Jangara Nenbutsu Dance,” they are set adrift into the sea.

*This event is a Bon Festival ritual. Visitors are requested to be considerate and not to cause inconvenience to local residents.

Place：Otsu Fishing Port

Nearby Station：Otsuko Station

Transportation：By car: 15 minutes from Joban Expressway Kita-Ibaraki IC.<br>By train: 5 minutes by car from JR Joban Line Otsuko Station.

Time：6:15 〜 Around 7:00

https://www.kitaibarakishi-kankokyokai.gr.jp/