The Yonbangai Festival is an annual community festival organized by the Sapporo Ekimae-dori Yonbangai Shopping Street. The event celebrates local culture, supports nearby businesses, and brings together residents and visitors for a weekend of traditional festivities and modern entertainment.

Unlike larger festivals that attract massive crowds from across Japan, the Yonbangai Festival maintains a welcoming neighborhood atmosphere, allowing visitors to enjoy Japanese culture up close.

We arrived just in time, around noon time to witness the opening ceremony. They closed three blocks of the road and even redirected the tram line for this festival.

The opening ceremony involved a Shinto Priest who chanted a prayer during the opening ceremony. We could see festival participants bowing in silent. It was also interesting to get a close up pictures of what kind of traditional shoes the participants were wearing. Also it was quite surreal to see some stalls on the top of the tram track.

Three blocks of roads, spanning from Odori Station to Susukino Station were blocked, and there were a lot of stalls selling some traditional Japanese foods and merchandises. We could see some people dressing up as Ninja and Samurai, while at the same time, Yonbangai Hanjou Mikoshi procession, where participants carry a portable shrine through the heart of the shopping district in celebration of prosperity and community spirit.

The most interesting part was the pro-wrestling show in the middle of the road. It was quite interesting to see a traditional shrine being paraded while there were a bunch of men beat up each other with folding chairs in the background!

Here are some other pictures from the festival.