Each of the fourteen floats has a name and a story. A red lion. A samurai helmet. A sea bream. A dragon. Urashima Taro on his way to the sea palace. They are works of lacquer art — layers of washi paper built up over a wire frame, finished with urushi, standing over seven meters tall and weighing up to three tons. Each has been carried through the streets of Karatsu every November for generations. The festival traces its roots more than 400 years to the autumn festival of Karatsu Shrine. The word kunchi is thought to derive from kunichi, meaning a day of giving thanks for the harvest. The three days unfold in a particular rhythm. On the evening of November 2, lantern-lit floats drift through the old castle town like luminous animals. On November 3 — the main day — hundreds of young men in matching happi coats haul them through the cobblestones to the chant of enya, enya. The final day is a farewell, the floats returning to their warehouse for another year. One of Kyushu's three great kunchi festivals. A UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage.