Even Spectators Were on Edge... Japanese Deputy Mayor Dies After Taking Part in Local Festival

Deputy mayor dies after being crushed under a float weighing up to 3 tons and taken to hospital
Fatal accidents continue at local festivals, but the festivals go on

A serving deputy mayor was killed after being crushed by a festival float at a local Japanese festival, or matsuri.

The Saijo Matsuri, held every October in Saijo City, Ehime Prefecture, Japan. Participants compete to lift large portable shrines called daikodai, which weigh 2-3 tons. Saijo City

According to The Asahi Shimbun and other media outlets, at around 5:45 p.m. on October 17, Deputy Mayor Akihiro Nabae, 62, was crushed by a festival float called a daikodai while taking part in the Saijo Matsuri in Saijo City, Ehime Prefecture, on Shikoku island in western Japan. He was taken to a hospital immediately after the accident but was pronounced dead an hour later.

Nabae took part in the festival as a kakifu, a person who carries a large daikodai on their shoulders. At the time, an event called kakikurabe was underway, in which participants lift 11 daikodai above their heads and compete. The daikodai in Saijo City are reportedly about 5.3 meters tall and weigh 2 to 3 tons. No one else was injured, and Saijo City police are investigating the details of the accident.

A rollover accident during a Danjiri event. Screenshot from social media (SNS).

In Niihama City, Ehime Prefecture, men were killed in 2024 and 2025 after being caught or crushed by daikodai during similar festivals. Despite the accidents, this year's festival is continuing through October 18. On October 10, a 51-year-old man died after a large danjiri float overturned during a Danjiri Festival in Izumisano City and Izumiotsu City, Osaka Prefecture. Two other people suffered serious injuries, including fractures, and five sustained minor injuries. That afternoon, another danjiri overturned while moving in Izumiotsu City. A 48-year-old company employee from Izumi City, who was also serving as a takari, was crushed by the float and died. Danjiri are 3 to 4 meters tall and weigh 3 to 4 tons.

In February 2026, two men taking part in the Hadaka Matsuri, or Naked Festival, died of causes including hypoxia amid a large crowd at a temple in Saidaiji, Okayama City, Okayama Prefecture. At the festival, about 10,000 men wearing fundoshi loincloths wrestle to claim wooden sticks called shingi, which symbolize good fortune. The intense wrestling makes injuries likely. Despite a series of accidents, local governments in Japan maintain that they cannot suspend traditional festivals that have continued for hundreds of years. Local social media users, however, have responded with comments such as, "If a tradition can only be preserved at the cost of human lives, there is no need to preserve it anymore," and, "I understand wanting to preserve the tradition, but can't they prevent people from dying?"

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.