Fukuoka is Japan’s sixth largest city (2.5 million) and second largest port city after Yokohama. The city is built along the coast of Hakata Bay and has been an international trade centre since ancient times. The area has long been considered the country’s gateway, as it is the closest point between Japan’s main islands and the Asian mainland. Although people have lived in the area since the Jomon period, the relatively long distance from the social and political centres of Kyoto, Osaka and later Edo (Tokyo) has given Fukuoka a distinctive local culture and dialect that has survived to the present day.
In 1268, Kublai Khan of the Mongol Empire turned his attention to Japan. For the first time in its history, Japan was under serious external pressure. Kublai Khan first sent an envoy to Japan to force the shogunate to recognise the Khan’s suzerainty, but the Kamakura shogunate refused. Mongolia then repeatedly sent envoys, each time urging the Shogunate to accept their offer, but each time without success.
In 1274, Kublai Khan organised an invasion of the northern part of Kyushu Island with a fleet of 900 ships and 33 000 troops, including troops from the Korean peninsula. This invasion failed in 1274 due to severe storms. After the attempted invasion in 1274, Japanese samurai built a 20-kilometre-long stone barrier along the coast of Hakata Bay in the present-day city of Fukuoka. The wall, which is 2-3 m high and 3 m wide at the base, was built between 1276 and 1777.
In 1279, Kublai sent another envoy to Japan. The eighth regent at that time was Hojo Tokimune of the Hojo clan (1251-1284). Not only did he refuse the offer, but he summoned them to Kamakura and beheaded five Mongol envoys. Furious Kublai launched another attack on Fukuoka Prefecture in 1281 with 140 000 troops and 4 000 ships. The Japanese defenders, numbering some 40 000, were no match for the Mongols and the Mongol forces reached Dazaifu, 15 km south of Fukuoka City. However, the Japanese were again aided by unfavourable weather conditions. This time a typhoon dealt a devastating blow to the Mongol army and prevented the invasion.
It was this typhoon that came to be known as the Kamikaze (Divine Wind) and gave rise to the term “Kamikaze”, which was used during World War II to refer to the suicide attacks on Allied warships by Imperial Japanese pilots.
Founding of the Modern City (1889)
Fukuoka was formerly the residence of the powerful daimyo of Chikuzen Province and played an important role in medieval Japanese history.
The modern city was formed on 1 April 1889 by merging the former cities of Hakata and Fukuoka. Historically, Hakata was a port and merchant district, more closely linked to the culture of the area, and today it remains a major commercial district. On the other hand, the Fukuoka district was home to a large number of samurai, and Senoji is the main commercial district, now known as Tenjin.
When Hakata and Fukuoka decided to merge, the name of the new city was decided. Hakata was initially chosen, but a group of samurai invaded the meeting and forced the assembly to choose Fukuoka. However, Hakata is still used to refer to the Hakata district of the city, and is most commonly known in reference to the city’s train station – Hakata Station – and the dialect – Hakata-ben.
Fukuoka is bordered on three sides by the mountains that surround Hakata Bay, which opens onto the Genkai Sea to the north. It is 1100 km from Tokyo. The nearest overseas region is the Busan metropolitan area in South Korea. The distance to Busan is about 180 km.
Fukuoka is the economic centre of the Kyushu region. The economy is mainly service-oriented. It is also the largest start-up city in Japan and the only economic zone for start-ups. It offers a range of services for start-ups, such as start-up visas, tax incentives and free business advice. Fukuoka has the highest business start-up rate in Japan. Most of the region’s heavy manufacturing takes place in nearby Kitakyushu.
The GDP of Greater Fukuoka, the Fukuoka metropolitan area, is around USD 100 billion. Fukuoka is the main economic centre of the Fukuoka-Kitakyushu metropolitan area which is Japan’s fourth largest economy. As of 2014, the area’s GDP, adjusted for purchasing power parity, is estimated to be higher than that of metropolitan areas such as Melbourne, Kuala Lumpur, Vienna, Barcelona and Rome.
Hakata Gion Yamakasa Festival
The Hakata Gion Yamakasa (博多祇園山笠) festival is celebrated from 1 to 15 July in Hakata. The centre of the festival is Kushida Temple. The festival is famous for the Kakiyama, which weighs about one tonne and is carried around the city as part of a float race. The festival is believed to be over 770 years old and attracts up to a million spectators each year. In 1979, it was declared an important intangible asset of Japanese folk culture.
Yamakasa buoys are divided into two groups. Kakiyama are smaller portable floats that race around the city, while Kazariyama are fixed floats that are built up to 13 metres high and often depict historical or mythical events in Japanese culture. Originally, Kakiyama and Kazariyama were one and the same event. However, in 1898, when power lines were laid in Hakata, the Yamakasa was split.
Teams of men (women, except for little girls, are not allowed to take part), representing different districts of the city, commemorate the way of the shrine-keeper by racing against each other on a pre-determined course, carrying buoys weighing several thousand kilograms on their shoulders. All participants wear shimekomi (known as fundoshi in other parts of Japan), the traditional headgear of the clubs.
Each day of the two-week festival features special events and practice runs, culminating in an official race on the last morning before dawn. Tens of thousands of people line the streets to support the teams. During the festival, men can be seen in many areas of Fukuoka wearing long happi robes bearing their team’s distinctive logo and traditional geta sandals. These suits are worn with pride and are considered appropriate attire even for formal occasions such as weddings and cocktail parties during the festival.
Hakata Dontaku Festival
Hakata Dontaku is a festival held annually during Golden Week, 3-4 May.
More than 650 bands, 33 000 performers and more than 2 million spectators attend the festival. Hakata Dontaku is one of the most famous and largest festivals in Japan. It is also one of the three largest festivals in Fukuoka. Two other popular festivals in Fukuoka are Hakata Gion Yamakasa and Houjoya.
This festival consists of two main parts, a parade and a performance. Men and women, regardless of age, parade through the streets dressed in various costumes, playing instruments, and others clapping spoons of rice in shumai. During the festival, more than 30 stages and performance venues are set up around the city.
The word “Dontaku” comes from the Dutch word “zondag”. “Zon” means Sun and “dag” means Day. The word ‘zondag’ itself means Sunday or holiday. Dontaku was given the name by the Meiji government in 1879.
The origins of Hakata Dontaku are called Matsubayashi. Matsubayashi was intended to celebrate the Old New Year (Lunar New Year). It was an event to welcome the gods who bring good luck for the new year. Matsubayashi was traditionally held in Kyoto and usually people would visit the ruler’s castle to dance a traditional dance. Gradually, the celebration spread throughout the country and eventually made its way to Hakata. In 1179, the story of Hakata Matsubayashi began.
The main idea of Hakata Matsubayashi during the Edo period (1603～1868) was that many samurai would visit Fukuoka Castle, which was the seat of the Fukuoka han clan. The Fukuoka han were the pinnacle of all the samurai in Fukuoka, and the samurai would visit them to pay their respects during the New Lunar Year. It was like a big celebration, with the townspeople joining in. However, in 1872, the governor banned it because the government did not want people to waste money on this event, but hoped that people would use more money to celebrate the emperor’s birthday.
Seven years later, in 1879, the Hakata Matsubayashi was re-launched and renamed Hakata Dontaku. It was said that not only the name had changed, but also the date and style of the event. It was no longer a Lunar New Year celebration. Since 1949, Hakata Dontaku has been held annually on 3-4 May.
Schedule of events
May 2nd
Hakata Dontaku is a 2-day event, but there is an opening night on 2 May from 16:30 to 20:30. That evening the band Dontaku Tai will perform.
May 3rd
First day of Hakata Dontaku. The festival starts with the Matsubayashi parade, the origin of Dontaku. The 3 gods of fortune ride horses and walk around the city of Fukuoka as the first Matsubayashi did in history.
Thousands of performers dance down the main street called Meiji Street. People wear various costumes and clap rice spoons, play instruments and wear masks. The streets are full of performers and spectators.
May 4th
Second day of Hakata Dontaku. The schedule is almost the same as the first day. As it is the last day, the event culminates with a dance by all participants.
Yatai (Street food stall)
A yatai (屋台) is a small mobile food stall, or let’s call it a stall, usually selling ramen or other street food. The name literally means “shop stall”. The stall is set up in the early evening on footpaths and removed late in the evening or early in the morning.
Although mobile food stalls originated in the 17th century, yatai became popular and widespread during the Meiji period (1868-1912). They were two-wheeled sliding carts constructed of wood and equipped with kitchen appliances and seating. The handles and the seat of the trolley folded into the trolley to allow easy transport from one place to another. The dimensions of the trolley are typically 3×2,5 m. Yatai were popular during and after the Second World War, but before the 1964 Tokyo Olympics the Japanese authorities imposed additional restrictions citing food safety concerns.
Yatai usually offers a variety of traditional Japanese dishes such as ramen, gyoza and tempura. Beer, sake and shochu are available.
Yatai originated from food stalls set up at Buddhist temples in the 5th to 7th centuries. Historians claim that the origins of modern yatai date back to the Tokugawa period, when courtiers often travelled between the capital and their homes. While travelling, yatai could easily eat their meals on food carts without wasting much time.
Yatai enjoyed a brief revival in the 1980s, when industrialisation led to rice shortages and farmers flocked to the city. The large industrial workforce in the urban centres encouraged the development of yatai. There were also stalls where food was prepared by foreigners who came to Japan from occupied countries such as Taiwan and Korea. After Japan’s surrender in 1945, yatai flourished as Japan rebuilt its economic infrastructure and industrialised rapidly, attracting huge numbers of workers to the central cities. Later, the era of yatai standardisation even began. Corporations, seeing an economic opportunity, started to sell “ready-made” yatai carts in the 1950s in exchange for a share of sales.
As the Japanese economy boomed, many yatai turned into shops. Yatai gave rise to several ramen chains such as Harugiya Ramen in Tokyo and Ide Shoten in Wakayama.
In the 1960s, the media often portrayed yatai as a kind of escape from the pressures of the business world. The media romanticised the description of salaried workers who had given up business careers to work on pushcarts.
The modern Yatai Cultural Centre is located in the Nakasu and Tenjin districts of Fukuoka City. As yatai rules were enforced locally throughout Japan, yatai operators in Fukuoka formed a trade association and managed to fight for their rights. However, even in Fukuoka Prefecture, the number of carts has fallen from 450 to just 100 since 1960. This process was accelerated by a 1994 law which stipulates that yatai must be handed over to a direct descendant or closed down when the operator retires. However, Fukuoka has relaxed these rules and recently announced that 14 new licences will be available from 2019.
An interesting story about yatai in Wakaki, Kumamoto Prefecture. In Wakaki City, the only yatai with the last remaining yatai licence in the prefecture remains. When the owner retires, the yatai culture in Kumamoto will end. The owner serves oden and various drinks. She has regular customers and welcomes foreigners. The owner often jokes that she has the most expensive toilet of all the restaurants in Kumamoto, because customers use the toilet in the local park, which was built at a cost of more than 10 000 000 yen (about 90 000 USD).
Tonkotsu ramen
Tonkotsu ramen is not to be confused with the Japanese fried pork dish tonkatsu. Tonkotsu ramen (豚骨ラーメン) is a ramen noodle dish originating in Fukuoka.The base of the Tonkotsu ramen broth is pork bones (豚骨/とんこつ) . The broth of the soup is made by boiling the pork bones in water for a long time (up to eighteen hours). The broth is usually cloudy. Additional ingredients in the broth may include onions, garlic, leeks, ginger, pork back fat, oil and chicken carcases. In addition to the noodles, which are cooked separately, cooked pork slices(Chashu) are also used in Tokotsu ramen, and additional ingredients may include kombu seaweed, kikurage mushrooms, chilli bean paste, sesame seeds and others. Tonkotsu ramen is also called Hakata ramen, as Hakata is the historical name of central Fukuoka. Originally, Tonkotsu ramen was prepared as a cheap and easy-to-prepare fast food for workers at fish markets. Nowadays, tokotsu ramen is the most popular type of ramen dish among foreigners.
Motsu-nabe
Motsu-nabe (もつ鍋) is a Japanese dish made from beef or pork and chicken offal. Motsu-nabe soup is usually made with beef tripe, but a variety of offal can also be used.It is a popular stew prepared in a regular large pot or in a special Japanese nabe pot. The soup and the prepared beef or pork offal are poured into the nabe pot and cooked for a while. Cabbage and chives are then added. The soup is usually based on soy sauce with garlic and chilli pepper or miso. When the meat pieces are finished, the noodles are added to the pot and cooked to complete the dish. Pasta cooked in soup stock is a real delicacy.
Motsu-nabe was originally a speciality in Fukuoka, but in the 1990s some restaurants spread it to Tokyo. In Fukuoka, motsunabe remains a very popular dish.
Nanzo-in
Nanzo-in (南蔵院) is a Shingon Buddhist temple in Sasaguri, Fukuoka Prefecture. It is distinguished by a bronze statue of the Reclining Buddha, said to be the largest bronze statue in the world. The reclining Buddha statue, known as the Nehanzo, is 41 m long and 11 m high and weighs almost 300 tonnes. The statue depicts the Buddha at the moment of death, or entering nirvana. Inside the statue, sand from each of the 88 temples that make up the Shikoku pilgrimage route is stored under bricks in a narrow corridor.
Every year, hundreds of Buddhists gather to clean the statue using bamboo leaves tied to five-metre-long poles.
Nanzo-in was originally located on Mount Koya, but in 1886 the local anti-Buddhist authorities threatened to destroy the temple. In 1886, public protests led to a decade-long effort to relocate the temple to Sasaguri. Nanzo-in is a key site among the 88 temples that make up the Sasaguri Pilgrimage Route, one of the three famous hiking pilgrimage routes in Japan.
Legend has it that once upon a time, a Nanzo-in high priest placed his ticket next to a statue of the deity Daikoku and won a lottery. The temple claims that others who made similar efforts also won the lottery, so the temple evokes associations with luck and lottery tickets.
Another interesting fact is that the Nandzo Temple has 4 315 nokotsudo places where the bones of the dead are kept. The temple has an unconventional fee structure for the storage of remains, which is open to all Buddhist sects, including Shinto. Buddhist temples normally charge a monthly fee for keeping the bones of the dead. After a set period of time, these bones are disposed of. Nanzo-in, on the other hand, charges a single fee for the storage period of the remains, which covers 200 years.
