Kurashiki Byobu Festival is an event held on the day of the autumn grand festival of Achi Shrine, the guardian shrine of Kurashiki.
Held every October, the event opens traditional townhouses to the public, with folding screens displayed inside.
The custom was originally practiced in Kurashiki during the Edo period, but disappeared in the Meiji period. It was revived in the 2000s through the efforts of local volunteers.
Since then, it has become one of the hallmarks of autumn in the Bikan Historical Area.
We interviewed Oka Soichiro, an adviser to the Kurashiki Chamber of Commerce and Industry who worked hard to revive the Kurashiki Byobu Festival and served as chair of its organizing committee.
The information presented here is current as of the article’s publication in October 2025. Please note that it may differ from current information.
A distinctive Kurashiki autumn festival custom revived in modern times
The Kurashiki Byobu Festival is a custom that began in the Edo period and was once held on the days of the spring and autumn grand festivals. It disappeared once in the late Meiji period, but was revived in 2002 through the efforts of local residents.
Since then, together with Achi Shrine’s autumn grand festival and Suinkyo, it has been cherished as a hallmark of Kurashiki’s autumn festivals.
It was originally held in Honmachi and Higashimachi, but has expanded throughout the Bikan Historical Area.
In 2017, it also became one of the constituent cultural properties of the Agency for Cultural Affairs’ Japan Heritage designation, “A Kurashiki story beginning with a single cotton flower: A textile town woven from Japanese and Western influences.”
At the 2025 Byobu Festival, folding screens will be displayed at 36 homes (38 locations) in the Bikan Historical Area.
The Byobu Festival, born in the Edo period, is a hallmark of Kurashiki’s festivals
We spoke with Oka Soichiro about the history of the Byobu Festival.
Does the Byobu Festival have a long history?
Oka (surname only)
The Byobu Festival originated as a custom practiced during the spring and autumn grand festivals of Achi Shrine in Kurashiki during the Edo period (in the area around today’s Bikan Historical Area).
A booklet titled Suinkyo, published in 1991 by the Kurashiki Suinkyo Preservation Society, describes the custom of displaying folding screens.
According to the booklet, during Achi Shrine’s spring and autumn festivals, wealthy townspeople in Kurashiki would display their prized family heirloom gold folding screens in a room at the front of their homes.
They would then remove the lattice doors, lay down red mousen (felt-like Japanese floor covering), arrange flowers in a vase, and hang red-and-white curtains to show the screens to passersby.
The custom of displaying folding screens seems to have been centered in Ebisu-cho (around today’s Ebisu-dori Shopping Street), Honmachi, and Higashimachi.
It is said that the sight of passersby stopping to gaze at the displayed screens was known as a hallmark of Kurashiki’s festivals.
The latticework at the Former Ohara Family Residence also shows signs that it could be removed, confirming traces of the Byobu Festival being held there.
When did the custom of displaying folding screens begin?
Oka
It is unclear when the custom of displaying folding screens began.
According to the booklet Suinkyo, by the Bunka and Bunsei eras in the late Edo period (the early 1800s), it had already become established as a hallmark of Kurashiki’s festivals.
The custom of displaying folding screens during festivals was something townspeople did on their own initiative; Achi Shrine was not involved.
Why were folding screens displayed?
Oka
The reason for displaying folding screens is also unclear.
However, I have heard that there was a custom of displaying folding screens at teahouses in Kyoto’s Gion district during the Edo period.
Once a year, they would display their prized screens in a room to show their gratitude to valued customers, invite them in, and lavishly entertain them.
There is also a record that the owner of Oshima-ya, which once operated in Kurashiki, was known to be very fond of folding screens and traveled to Kyoto to buy them.
So I have the following theory.
Along with folding screens being brought from Kyoto, the custom of displaying them may also have been introduced, then evolved into a uniquely Kurashiki custom of displaying screens for passersby during festivals.
Incidentally, for Japanese painters of the time, folding screens were like canvases. They also served as paintings and works of art.
Furthermore, for wealthy townspeople of the time, folding screens were a status symbol. Even today, wealthy people collect paintings. It was much the same.
I heard that the custom of displaying folding screens later fell out of practice. When did it disappear?
Oka
The custom of displaying folding screens is thought to have disappeared around the latter part of the Meiji period.
In the early 2000s, I spoke with someone in their 90s who had grown up in the Bikan Historical Area. They told me, “When I was little, I remember going to houses displaying folding screens during festivals and getting a piece of candy.”
So it must have continued until around the latter part of the Meiji period.
I suspect the custom disappeared due to various factors, including changes in living conditions and culture, as well as the outbreak of war.
Although the town-wide Byobu Festival ended around the latter part of the Meiji period, one household continued the custom of displaying folding screens during festivals up to the present day: Hashimaya (the Kusudo family) in Higashimachi.
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