Title: Suicho-no-Matsuri (Festival of Waterfowl, a sake-drinking contest which dates back to the Edo period.)

Date: The 3rd Sunday of October every year

Venue: Wakamiya Hachimangu Shrine

This festival replicates an old sake-drinking contest as described in a historical document Suichoki (The Tale of Waterfowl) of Edo period.

As described in the historical record Suichoki, two groups - the Kawasaki Party on one hand, and the Edo Party on the other - engage in the competition. The historic scene “The Sake-Drinking Contest of the Keian Era at the Daishi Kawara” (Keian Era lasted 1648-51) is replicated, pursuant to the description from 350 years ago. The participants parade in gaudy traditional costumes, proclaiming loudly self-introductions impersonating personalities in history, and then proceed to the Wakamiya Shrine, where the final drinking contest is held and also a Japanese dance of amity is performed. This event culminates into a heavy drinking contest, where sake donated from different parts of Japan will be offered to the public. The verbal self-introductions were used by warlords in old days to bluff their counterparts in the battlefields. The self-introductions by the contestants are used to prompt exaltation towards the drinking game.