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Fatal float accidents widen Japan's festival safety debate

A report links deaths beneath festival floats to a separate crowd crush that prompted an outside review of Okayama's centuries-old Saidaiji Eyo festival.

Channel: KBS News ·

South KoreaStory of November 4, 2026Trari Newsroom

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[이슈] "알몸 뒤엉켜 죽어가도…" 피를 부른 日 축제 '지옥도'/잇단 사고사에 '500년 금지' 깬다/2026년 11월 3일(화)/KBS

Things we can learn from the video

Press to jump

0:12Kuse Matsuri's organizers describe safety precautions introduced after injuries and the limits of those measures.
0:48The report says deaths at Saidaiji Eyo prompted an external committee to review festival operations.
1:14February archive footage shows crowding and rescue efforts at Saidaiji Temple.
3:16A separate report says a deputy mayor died beneath a festival float at Saijo Matsuri.
4:40Coverage shifts to a fire aboard a fireworks-launching barge in Yokohama.
5:48The report examines fatal float overturns in Osaka; earlier reports begin replaying at 07:34.

A deputy mayor crushed beneath a festival float in Ehime and deadly float overturns in Osaka form part of a wider Japanese festival safety debate, according to South Korea's Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) News.

The compilation brings these accidents together with reporting on Saidaiji Eyo, often called the Naked Festival, in Okayama in western Japan. The broadcaster reports that two participants died in a crowd crush there this year, prompting organizers to establish an external review committee for the first time and reconsider how the roughly 500-year-old event operates.

At Saidaiji Temple, participants compete for wooden talismans thrown by the chief priest. Despite the festival's English nickname, participants typically wear loincloths rather than being completely naked. Archive footage dated February 21 shows tightly packed crowds and efforts to rescue people. A participant describes seeing someone carried away on a stretcher.

The opening report also visits Kuse Matsuri, another festival in Okayama Prefecture, examining safety measures introduced after earlier injuries. A festival committee representative says there is no point at which organizers can regard safety precautions as definitively sufficient.

The focus then shifts to Saijo Matsuri in Ehime, on the island of Shikoku. The broadcaster reports that a serving deputy mayor died after being crushed beneath a festival float. Later coverage examines float overturns in Osaka that it says killed two people and seriously injured others. These are separate incidents from the Saidaiji crowd crush.

Another report shows a fire on a fireworks-launching barge in Yokohama, broadening the compilation beyond crowding and heavy floats. After about seven and a half minutes, the upload begins replaying earlier reports. Its central development is the move to bring outside scrutiny into Saidaiji Eyo's safety arrangements following the deaths.