When you first see the float, the odd design will make you wonder...why is the balance so poor? 
This festival was originally a Noh-ryo-Sai (festival to enjoy the cool breeze of the evening) at Ishizaki Hachiman-Jinja shrine, but there were no Kiriko floats at that time. It's said that after several great fires, a fishing net maker introduced the huge lanterns from the northern area of Noto in 1889. In other words, the festival is not so old. Also, most of the Kiriko festivals in the peninsula are descended from the Gion Matsuri festival in Kyoto. The Issaki Hoh-Toh Matsuri was no exception. It was held on the 15th of June until 1995, so that is a very important day for the Gion-Sha shrine.
Just so you know, Issaki's lanterns have Kanji (Chinese characters) on the front and pictures of warriors on the back. Nobody really knows why people choose the three Kanji used for each lantern, some have the meaning, "a bay full of fishes", others say, "wisdom, affection and braveness". Sound very fisherman-like, huh? Anyway, the Issaki district's Kiriko design uses what we call "Nobori-Bata-Type", which looks like a streamer. No wonder it's so unbalanced! Most of the Nobori-Bata-Type Kirikos are just 4-5 meters in height. 
 

 

The Ishizaki-Machi district is conveniently located just a five minute walk from Wakura-Onsen Station. It's actually one of three biggest festivals in Nanao City, so people from all over Japan visit the spa town to see the festival. Although not all of them are fishermen these days, you can still see 100 people dragging a tall lantern float on the narrow street. Just imagine, the floats nearly scrape against buildings as they move between the houses...
The houses are designed so that the doors are opened toward the streets. On a festival day, you will see many people coming in and out of houses, drinking Sake on Tatami mats, and cheering the people dragging the huge lanterns. It's as if everyone in the district is family. They decorate their houses with small lanterns and Noren curtains with their family crests embroidered. Lovely, isn't it? You'll wish that you were one of the residents on the day of the festival.