Shingen-ko Festival

After a ceremony to pray for victory at Takeda Shrine, a Battle Deployment Ceremony is held at Maizuru Castle Park. During the ceremony, various rituals such as the dance of shrine maidens are reenacted on a special stage. The roles of Takeda Shingen and his trusted general, Kansuke Yamamoto, are performed by famous actors every year, and the true-to-life performance is worth seeing. From the paid bleachers near the stage, you can enjoy the Battalion Deployment Stage up close.

In this main event of the Shingen-ko Festival, troops led by the 24 generals of Shingen Takeda gather to fight in the Battle of Kawanakajima and march from Maizuru Castle Park amid the cherry blossoms in full bloom. Over 1,000 people participate in the long line of the samurai procession. In 2014, the event was recognized as the largest gathering of samurai in the world. Participants of Shingen Takeda's troops are invited from the public, so there is a chance for anyone to become a part of the Sengoku picture scroll!

Koihime was a concubine of Shingen Takeda and the birth mother of Katsuyori, the fourth son and eventual successor of Shingen. Before the Koshu Battalion Deployment, the main event of the Shingen-ko Festival, the Princess Koihime Contest is held to decide the role of the heroine. The woman chosen as Koihime in this contest becomes the heroine of the Koihime Procession of the Takeda clan parade the next day and will also participate in various events in the coming year as the Tourism Promotion Queen of Yamanashi Prefecture. Who will become this year's Koihime, the princess beloved by Shingen amid the warring Sengoku period?