Travel Shingen-Ko Samurai Festival in Yamanashi

The largest samurai parade in the world
The Shingen-ko Festival is held every year in Kofu City, Yamanashi Prefecture, to commemorate the legacy of Takeda Shingen, a renowned general of the Warring States period. The main event of the festival is the "Koshu Battalion Deployment." It is a spectacular sight to witness with more than 1,000 participants dressed in samurai costumes.

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This is one of the largest historical reenactments in Japan. In 2012 the festival was included in the Guinness World Records as the "largest gathering of samurai" in the world with 1061 participants. The role of daimyo Takeda Shingen is usually played by a Japanese celebrity. The 24 generals have extra detailed armor. Seeing so many people in traditional costumes and more than 1000 samurai gives an impression of what the Sengoku Period was like (1467 – 1600 CE). What's special is that anyone can join after a short application. Exchange students of the University of Yamanashi are usually the guard samurai group of the princess. The princess can also be represented by exchange students from Asian countries. So the festival is not fully historically accurate. Each festival has more than 100,000 visitors from all over Japan and international tourists. In 2013 there were 130,000 visitors during the three days of the festival. Daimyo Takeda Shingen was played by the actor Ken Matsudaira.

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