Taking place in Nagahama, Shiga Prefecture, the Hikiyama Festival is named for the wheeled festival floats which are pulled along at many traditional festivals.
However, the festival is known for ‘kodomo kabuki’ – children’s kabuki.

In the case of the Hikiyama Festival, the floats are portable stages on which young boys perform kabuki plays. As in the adult version of kabuki, both male and female roles are played by men – or boys in this case.