Fukae River Festival

At dawn on July's first Sunday, the children of Fukae build a sand altar on the beach and pray to the dragon-king of waters for safety at sea.

At dawn on the first Sunday of July, before the town wakes, the children of Fukae gather on the shore. They raise four great bamboo poles and build an altar of sand, praying to Hachidai Ryuo, the dragon-king of waters, for safety at sea. This has always been the children's own rite — still carried by the local children's association. When the prayer ends, the altar is broken, the bamboo toppled into the sea, and the children rush into the water to send it out — the signal that their summer has begun. No posters, no grandstands: a prayer of daily life, designated an Intangible Folk Cultural Property by Fukuoka Prefecture in 2015.