The Goshuinsen of Motoshikkui performed at Nagasaki Kunchi, with Araki Sotaro and Princess Anio on deck

SHIANBASHI, NAGASAKI

MotoshikkuiNeighborhood Association

本石灰町自治会

Next Nagasaki Kunchi performance2030The Goshuinsen

The official website of the Motoshikkui Neighborhood Association, rooted in Shianbashi, Nagasaki’s famous nightlife district. Here we share our traditional festivals and community activities.

Shianbashi

“Shall I go on,or turn back?— Shianbashi.”

The Motoshikkui Neighborhood Association, at the heart of Shianbashi — Nagasaki’s liveliest district

The feeling in these words is a remnant of the days when Maruyama, Nagasaki’s old pleasure quarter, flourished. Shianbashi — literally the “Bridge of Hesitation” — is said to have stood at the entrance to Maruyama. It is told that people paused there, torn between going on and turning back.

Today the name lives on in Shianbashi, Nagasaki’s best-known entertainment district. Long-established restaurants serving local specialties, atmospheric bars that light up the night, and characterful little alleys carry the spirit of Nagasaki into the present.

At the center of Shianbashi lies Motoshikkui-machi. Our association values a way of life rooted in the community, and at Nagasaki Kunchi — the city’s great autumn festival — we carry on and perform the town’s pride, the “Goshuinsen” dance. We protect and pass on a town culture that connects people across generations.

Festivals and Shinto rituals, preparing for celebrations and cleaning the streets, watching over children and helping one another — all of this is the life of the town and the strength of its community.

On this website we share our activities, our work for Nagasaki Kunchi, and news of local events. We hope that local residents and visitors from afar alike will feel the charm of Shianbashi and Motoshikkui.

Shianbashi at night: the arcade sign and the lit street

The Town

About Motoshikkui

Households (including shops): 200+
Divisions: 4
The Goshuinsen is performed: 7years apart

Our association

The Motoshikkui Neighborhood Association covers the whole Shianbashi area, Nagasaki’s leading entertainment district. Its members are mainly the families who live here and the business owners who run shops in the district.

The association is organized around four divisions:

Board of Officers
Women’s Division
Montsuki-kai
Youth Division

Around these four divisions, more than 200 households in the town (including shops) take part in the association.

Our activities

Our annual events include:

Alongside these festivals and other events unique to Motoshikkui, we perform the “Goshuinsen” at Nagasaki Kunchi as one of the festival’s dancing towns (odorichō).

Performing the Goshuinsen at Nagasaki Kunchi is the most important undertaking of our association. Our turn comes around once every seven years, and every member keeps it in mind all the time. People of every age take part, and every seven years their roles shift as they grow older. This system engraves in the heart of everyone involved that the community of the town should last forever.

Our Youth Division is also very active — holding exchanges with the other dancing towns of Nagasaki Kunchi, and night patrols on the Sunday around the 15th of each month and for three days at the end of the year — helping to keep the town lively.

More about the town