Preserving Kanazawa's historic firefighting tradition, the troupe performs daring ladder acrobatics that combine balance, skill, courage, and teamwork.
★ Kaga Tobi Ladder Climbing, a tradition dating back to the Edo period, is designated an Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Ishikawa Prefecture.
★ In 2023, the Kagatobi Ladder Climbing Preservation Society received the 77th Kanazawa City Cultural Award in recognition of its longstanding contribution to preserving, transmitting, and promoting Kanazawa’s traditional firefighting culture.
Kaga Tobi Ladder Climbing is one of Kanazawa City’s most representative traditional firefighting arts. It originated from the Kaga Tobi firefighting organization of the Kaga Domain during the Edo period. Firefighters once climbed tall ladders to observe fires and the surrounding area; over time, this practice developed into a form of ladder acrobatics requiring courage, skill, and close teamwork, and became an important local cultural tradition of Kanazawa.
To prevent this valuable art from disappearing with changing times, Kanazawa City’s First, Second, and Third Fire Brigades jointly established the Kagatobi Ladder Climbing Preservation Society to preserve and transmit the skills systematically. Over the years, the group has continued to perform at major events such as Kanazawa’s annual New Year Firefighters’ Ceremony and Drill (Dezomeshiki) and the Kanazawa Hyakumangoku Festival, which commemorates Maeda Toshiie’s entry into Kanazawa and symbolizes the city’s history and culture. The performance has become one of Kanazawa’s most recognizable traditional cultural presentations.
【Performance Highlights】
The performance centers on a tall ladder stabilized by a ground crew while the performer climbs to the top with bare hands and executes a sequence of highly demanding movements in the air. The complete routine begins with “Fire Watch” and ends with a salute, comprising 27 consecutive techniques. Once on the ladder, the performer completes the entire sequence in order. The movements combine strength, balance, courage, and precise teamwork, creating a performance that is both thrilling and visually refined.
More than an aerial acrobatic display, the tradition embodies the history, discipline, and spirit of Kanazawa’s traditional firefighting organizations. Passed down from generation to generation, Kaga Tobi Ladder Climbing continues to express the courage, sense of honor, and team spirit distinctive to Japan’s local firefighting culture.
Notes
Note 1: “Kaga” refers to the Kaga Domain, the Maeda family territory centered on present-day Kanazawa in Ishikawa Prefecture. “Tobi” is associated here with the tobikuchi, a long-handled tool with an iron hook commonly used by Edo-period firefighters to pull down burning structures and prevent fires from spreading. Firefighters, or hikeshi, therefore also came to be associated with the term tobi. According to official information from the Kanazawa City Fire Brigade, Kaga Tobi can be traced back to the firefighting organization established by the Kaga Domain to protect its Edo residence. In 1718, Tokugawa Yoshimune, the eighth shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate, ordered feudal lords above a certain domain size to organize firefighting units, prompting Kaga to strengthen its existing force. Kaga Tobi became famous for courageous firefighting, as well as distinctive and flamboyant uniforms and equipment, and even appeared as a subject in ukiyo-e prints and kabuki. After the Meiji Restoration, some Kaga Tobi firefighters who had served at the Kaga residence in Edo returned to Kanazawa, bringing Edo firefighting techniques that blended with local practices, including the Kaga Tobi Ladder Climbing seen today.
Note 2: The Kanazawa Hyakumangoku Festival commemorates the entry of Maeda Toshiie, founder of the Kaga Domain, into Kanazawa Castle on June 14, 1583, an event that laid the foundation for the development of the castle town. Held every June, its main event is the Hyakumangoku Procession, a large historical parade reenacting Maeda’s entry into the city, featuring warrior groups, Kaga lion dancers, Kaga Tobi units, and more.
Note 3: During the Edo period, kokudaka was a measure of a domain’s rice-producing capacity and economic scale. The Maeda family’s Kaga Domain was assessed at approximately one million koku, giving rise to the name “Kaga Hyakumangoku,” or “Kaga of One Million Koku.” Official Kanazawa tourism materials likewise explain the name as deriving from the domain’s kokudaka of about one million koku.
