Japanese Deputy Mayor Dies After Being Trapped Under Festival Float
Akihiro Nabae, the 62-year-old deputy mayor of Saijo in western Japan, died after becoming trapped beneath a giant festival float he was helping to carry on Saturday. He was taken to hospital and later pronounced dead. No one else was injured in the incident, according to The Guardian.
The accident happened at around 5:45 p.m. on a riverbed in Saijo, a city in Ehime Prefecture, according to The Japan Times. The float, known as a taikodai, a taiko drum float, was one of 11 floats lined up side by side at the time. Each weighed as much as three tonnes.
Nabae's death came less than two weeks after two fatal accidents at Danjiri festivals in Osaka Prefecture. A 51-year-old man was crushed beneath a wooden float he was riding at a festival in southern Osaka prefecture. On the same day, a 48-year-old man was killed in a similar accident at a Danjiri event in a nearby town.
Police said 16 people were injured in the two Osaka incidents. The Osaka Prefectural Police is investigating those deaths, according to The Japan Times.
Danjiri floats can weigh up to four tonnes. They have toppled when pulled at speed around tight corners by hundreds of men. Those turns are known as yarimawashi. The Danjiri festivals were originally held to pray for good autumn harvests.
The annual Saijo festivals feature more than 100 floats and are held to thank Shinto deities for plentiful grain crops. They have been held each year since the Edo period, which ran from 1603 to 1868. Saijo's mayor, Mitsuyoshi Ochi, issued a statement expressing shock and condolences over Nabae's death.
The deaths have renewed attention on safety at Japan's traditional festivals. In February, two people died in a crush at the 'naked man festival' in Okayama.
