Japan’s centuries-old festivals are facing renewed scrutiny after a series of fatal accidents in recent weeks, raising questions over how communities can preserve their cultural traditions without putting lives at risk.

Three people have been killed and more than a dozen injured in accidents at autumn festivals across the country in recent weeks. Meanwhile, organisers of another major festival, where two men died in February, have cancelled next year’s event, citing public safety concerns.

The fatalities have fuelled calls for some festivals to be scrapped, even as experts warn that abandoning them would erase an important part of local identity and cultural heritage.

On October 10, a (wooden festival float) toppled over while rounding a bend in Izumisano, near Osaka, killing a 51-year-old man who was helping balance the vehicle. On the same day, a 48-year-old man died after being trapped beneath a float in nearby Izumiotsu.

The following Saturday, Akihiro Nabae, 62, the deputy mayor of Saijo in Ehime prefecture, was crushed to death beneath a three-tonne float carrying a large Japanese drum.

The festivals are highlights of many local communities, but footage of the accidents circulated on social media, triggering demands for dangerous events to be shut down.

Toru Hashimoto, former governor of Osaka prefecture, echoed those concerns on a Kansai TV broadcast. He recalled that when he was in office, he issued notices to host communities, warning that if an accident led to a criminal investigation, he would order the event halted immediately.

“Tradition is important, but I absolutely do not think it is right to preserve the tradition of a festival at the expense of the lives of babies or children,” Hashimoto said. “Safety should be the absolute priority in these cases, not tradition, and I told organisers to avoid events becoming criminal cases.”Some communities are trying to adapt rather than face cancellation. On October 19, the 200-year-old Katsuyama Fighting Danjiri festival in Okayama prefecture resumed after a two-year suspension caused by a previous participant’s death. The festival involves rival teams ramming two-tonne wooden floats into one another. Organisers reported no injuries this year following the introduction of new safety precautions.

But other festivals are pulling back. Organisers of the 500-year-old Saidaiji Festival – more commonly known as the “Naked Man Festival”, in which loincloth-clad men wrestle to capture blessed wooden sticks – said that next February’s event was cancelled. Three participants were knocked unconscious during the festival earlier this year; two later died.

“We take the loss of two people very seriously,” Minoru Omori, chairman of the festival committee, told TV Asahi. “It is extremely difficult to hold the festival with safety as the top priority. If we can ensure that safety measures to prevent a recurrence are fully implemented, we will do our best to allow you to attend the 519th festival [in two years].”Hiromichi Kubota, of the Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, said that festivals were integral to community identities, emphasising that only a small fraction of the hundreds of thousands of annual events across Japan ended in injury or death.

“Some festivals certainly involve potentially dangerous activities, but it is precisely because of these risks that the people who organise and participate in them approach them with extraordinary seriousness and discipline, making every effort to prevent accidents,” Kubota said.

“For them, an accident that prevents a festival from being carried out properly is deeply regrettable and distressing.”Kubota agreed, however, that safety risks had escalated in recent years due to several contributing factors.

“Because of the coronavirus pandemic, festivals throughout Japan were suspended for several years,” he said. “As a result, the practical skills and knowledge necessary to conduct festivals safely were not always passed down adequately.

“A few years ago, for example, a festival resumed after a long interruption, but one of its floats went out of control, causing casualties,” Kubota said. “The accident occurred because the techniques required to control the float had not been sufficiently maintained or shared.”Another important factor was the declining birth rate and the ageing of local communities, he pointed out.

“In some cases, the shortage of younger people means that physically demanding tasks must be undertaken by older participants, which may create additional risks,” Kubota said, emphasising that participants were not recklessly disregarding safety.

Kubota also drew parallels to athletics, pointing out that while serious injuries and deaths occur in sports, few demand that sports be banned entirely. “The real question we need to discuss is how we can prevent the loss of human life while allowing these activities to continue.”Takashi Minamoto, of the non-profit Japan Festival Network, agreed that these traditional events – which often began as religious rituals praying for bountiful harvests, abundant fishing catches or protection from epidemics – continued to provide spiritual support for local communities.

“Many festivals do not involve any danger, and I believe that the level of danger associated with some festivals has not changed significantly over the years,” Minamoto said.

“While I consider ensuring safety to be the top priority, I do think there is an aspect where the sense of achievement and exhilaration felt when successfully manoeuvring large floats, for example, goes hand in hand with danger.”With more than 300,000 festivals across Japan each year, Minamoto said local community organisers were the best equipped to determine appropriate safety precautions, warning against bureaucratic overreach.

Kubota agreed: “When it comes to the safety of the people actually participating in festivals, such as the festivals, I believe specific safety measures should primarily be determined by the participants themselves.

“The participants themselves are the people who most strongly wish to prevent accidents,” Kubota said. “And what makes these traditions so important to the people who preserve them is not whether they involve danger, but the fact that they are precious cultural practices handed down through generations.”