Katsura River

The Katsura River rises near Mt. Futago on the Kunisaki Peninsula and flows through Bungotakada before reaching the Suonada Sea. It is a tidal river, meaning the current reverses at high tide, pushing upstream, and at low tide birds walk across the exposed riverbed. The Showa no Machi retro shopping district sits along its banks. Two festivals mark the river's role in local life: the Horan-enya in January, where oarsmen on a boat traveling upstream leap into the water to retrieve money and sake thrown by spectators, and the Wakamiya Hachiman Shrine Autumn Festival, during which a portable shrine is carried across the river. Both events give the river a presence beyond scenery.