Viewing Guide

A: Yes, it will be held.

Since World War Two the events of the festival have been held regardless of the weather conditions. The festival marks the end of the rainy season and thusly is not spared the occasional heavy downfall.
However before World War Two there were some occasions during which the festival had to be canceled due to rain.

A: Every year at the 26th of June the tickets become available at the Kushida-shrine.

At 9:00 am on the 26th of June the tickets for the Oiyama and Oiyamanarashi ceremony become available at the Kushida-shrine.
The tickets are not selled over the internet and are only available at the Kushida-shrine. There are 300 tickets for the main event, the Oiyama, and 300 tickets for its dry run, the Oiyamanarashi. The tickets for the Oiyama usually cost 6000 yen (~50 euros, ~55 US dollars) and the Oiyamas tickets 3000 yen. However paying for the tickets is not the hard part of aquiring them. There is a huge line in front of the counter and the tickets usually sell out within 30 minutes of being available and when the 26th of June falls on a Sunday, as it does 2016, the tickets are gone even faster.

A: It is very hard to participate, if you are not an inhabitant of Hakata.

The Yamakasa is a religious festival of the township of Hakata and therefore actually only accessable to Hakatas inhabitants. It is however possible to be invited by inhabitants of Hakata, to join the prepartions for the festival and with luck you may be allowed to join the run. Of course for this you would probably have to be able to speak Japanese, have good friends that live in Hakata, and be aproved of by the senior organisers of the district.

A: Also children from outside Hakata can join the Childrens Yamakasa.

The Childrens Yamakasa, organised by the RKB Fukuoka Broadcasting Corporation, is also open to children from outside Fukuoka but requires at least knowlede of the Japanese language and the correct clothes.