Funa-kurabe

   Also funakake. Boat race contests, originally to divine the harvest, held among villages. They are common in Western Japan. There are notable examples at Iki, Tsushima and Sakurajima and at other places where belief in the water kami (suijin) is strong. At Nagasaki the funa-kurabe is part of the peiron festival (the peiron is a special kind of boat).