Kushida Shrine

This guide to Kushida Shrine in Fukuoka centers on the kazariyama, a towering festival float rebuilt from scratch every July first by Hakata's doll makers. You'll hear how electrical wires strung up in 1898 split the city's festival floats in two, grounding the tallest ones as stationary art while shorter versions kept racing through the streets. It also traces the shrine's own cycle of ruin and rebuilding, founded in 757, destroyed by war, and restored under the warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi.