Yamaksa Dictionary

Yukata-yama

The Yukata-handbarrow:
During the Meiji-period starting in 1872, all major festivals in Hakata were prohibited by the new government. After this prohibition was suprisingly taken back on the 13th of June 1875, the districts hadn’t prepared enough for the festival and the run of the Kakiyama.
So they dressed a few dolls in Yukata and carried them on constructs of pine wood and pine leaves. These Kakiyama were later called the Yukata-yama.
The people of Hakata only carried their Yukatayama during the Oiyama event and had to go slowly, but the festival was carried out. The following year the festival was forbidden again and it would take 11 more years until the festival was revived to its former scale. This was the only time the Yukata-Yama had taken place until the Kushida shrine made it a small part of the festivities 80 years later in 1961.
Today Hakatas population also carries smaller Yukata-yama through Hakata.