Greetings, this is Nazrul from the Hokkaido Government Representative Office.

This week we are introducing the town of Esashi, the oldest city in Hokkaido filled with history and culture where a festival still continues to be celebrated from the Edo period, and folk songs such as Esashi-Oiwake inherited from the Edo period can still be heard.

For the first time in Hokkaido, the town of Esashi was registered as a Japanese heritage approved by the Agency for Cultural Affairs for its historical charm and traits in April 2017. If you go over the historical and cultural heritage left behind in the town, you can immerse yourself in olden romanticism.

Also, the Esashi Three Giants Festival, to be held from July to September, is full of exciting sights. In particular, in accordance to the oldest Shinto shrine in Hokkaido, the region’s oldest history festival Esashi-Ubagami Daijingu Togyosai is a magnificent event where thirteen festival floats run through the town during the three-day event.