A QUIET FESTIVAL ARCHIVE · PRE-LAUNCH PAGE

KISAIROKU
A Quiet Archive of Japan’s Strange Festivals

Before Japan’s strangest local festivals and hidden rituals fade away, we want to record their fire, masks, drums, and silence – and share them with the world through a small, respectful Kickstarter-backed archive.

📍 Rural Japan · snow villages, coastal shrines, mountain towns 🔥 Fire, water, masks, midnight processions 🎥 Fieldwork · Film · Photo · Sound · AI-assisted reconstructions
🔔 Notify me on Kickstarter Read the full project outline

KISAIROKU（奇祭録） means “Record of Strange Festivals”. This page is the English-first landing page of kisairoku.com, designed for future backers and cultural partners.

Concept

What we want to preserve

Japan has countless “kisai” – strange, deeply local festivals: torches running through backstreets, fire carried by teenagers at 2 a.m., quiet water rituals at frozen rivers. Many are already disappearing from maps and memory.

Small, intense, and almost invisible

We focus on festivals that never became big TV events: one-village fire nights, family-based rituals, ceremonies where the audience is mostly neighbors. Some are playful. Some are fierce. All are fragile.

Archive over spectacle

KISAIROKU is not a shock-value show. It is a long-term archive combining:

  • Low-light film, photos, and detailed soundscapes.
  • Notes on history, taboos, and local etiquette.
  • AI-assisted reconstructions of missing or lost elements.
  • English/Japanese explanations for people who love small cultures.
Torchlight fire festival at night in a Japanese village

Fire in narrow streets

Torches rushing through alleys, sparks hitting old wooden walls.

Masked performers inside a wooden shrine

Masks in wooden shrines

Ancient masks and drums performing in cracked wooden stages.

Water cleansing ritual at a cold riverbank

Water and cleansing

Cold river rituals at dawn, with only a handful of participants.

For backers

Why this needs support now

Aging organizers, safety regulations, and shrinking villages all mean that many of these festivals are one generation away from silence.

What we see in the field

  • Ritual leaders in their 70s or 80s with no clear successor.
  • Fire rituals cancelled or reduced due to safety issues.
  • Young people moving away, leaving only a few participants.
  • Stories of past festivals existing only as “grandfather tales”.
Villages visited (pilot)
12+
Festivals with strong succession plans
≈ 3

What your backing unlocks

  • Travel to remote areas at the right season and time of night.
  • Quiet, low-light recording with reliable cameras and sound gear.
  • Fair payments to local guides and translators where needed.
  • Building an ad-free, bilingual archive site at kisairoku.com.

Our aim is not to own these festivals. Our aim is to leave a careful record that locals, researchers, and curious viewers can access after the torches go dark.

Archive plan

Three layers of KISAIROKU

We treat AI as a tool for organizing and imagining, never as a replacement for reality. What is documentary and what is AI will always be clearly separated.

Layer 1 – Documentary

  • Low-light video, still photos, multi-channel sound recordings.
  • Handwritten notes on history, taboos, and safe recording zones.
  • Local voices (when allowed): short audio or text quotes.

Layer 2 – Curated Archive

  • Edited clips with subtitles in English and Japanese.
  • Digital fieldbooks (PDF zines) with maps and stills.
  • Searchable tags: region, element (fire/water/masks), season, etc.

Layer 3 – AI Imagination (clearly labeled)

  • Reconstructed sequences of already lost or undocumented parts.
  • Visual explorations based on elders’ descriptions and old photos.
  • Side-by-side view: real footage vs. AI interpretation.

If you prefer only real-world documentation, you will be able to filter out AI content and watch/document the festivals as they are.

Budget

How we plan to use the funds

This is a small, focused campaign. We prefer a realistic goal we can actually reach and deliver on.

Planned allocation (example)

  • Field trips (transport, lodging, local guides) 35%
  • Camera & audio (maintenance, backup drives) 25%
  • Archive site & hosting (bilingual, ad-free) 15%
  • Translations, subtitles, design of fieldbooks 15%
  • Contingency & platform fees 10%

Exact numbers will be published on the Kickstarter page. Transparency is part of the archive.

Timeline (draft)

  • Phase 0 – Now Quiet pre-launch Build this site, talk with local communities, gather early supporters.
  • Phase 1 – After funding Core fieldwork Visit selected regions over 1–2 festival seasons, document 8–12 key festivals.
  • Phase 2 Editing & archive building Edit, subtitle, design fieldbooks, and launch backer archive access.
  • Phase 3 Public opening Open a public version of KISAIROKU and plan future phases with locals and backers.
FAQ

Questions you might have

  • Is this a tourism promotion project?

    Not exactly. Some people may discover new places, but the core goal is archiving, not mass tourism. We prioritize small, fragile festivals first.

  • Will you reveal exact locations?

    Only with local consent. Some locations may be kept at region-level to protect small shrines, families, and narrow streets from sudden outside pressure.

  • How “strange” are these festivals?

    “Strange” can mean unusual costumes, fire rituals, night timing, or rare symbolic acts. We do not seek cruelty or humiliation; we document meaningful oddness and deep tradition.

  • How do backers access the archive?

    Through a clean, password-protected site at kisairoku.com, with no loud ads and minimal tracking (only basic analytics for maintenance).

  • Can institutions or museums get involved?

    Yes. We welcome collaboration with museums, universities, and cultural organizations that respect local communities and slow, careful documentation.

  • How can I be notified when the Kickstarter launches?

    Use the “Notify me on Kickstarter” button once the pre-launch page is up, or email archive [at] kisairoku.com with the subject “KISAIROKU – stay in touch”.

Stay in touch

For locals, partners, and future backers

If you feel that small, intense festivals deserve quiet, careful documentation, you are exactly the kind of person we want around this archive.

For potential backers

KISAIROKU is for people who like embers after the drums stop, and stories whispered on cold streets – not for people who need fireworks every second.

  • Sign up on the future Kickstarter pre-launch page.
  • Share this site with one friend who loves festivals.
  • Tell us which region or ritual you’re curious about.

Contact

📧 archive [at] kisairoku.com
Languages: English / 日本語

Please write if you are:

  • A local festival organizer or participant.
  • A researcher, curator, or cultural worker.
  • A potential partner for translation or distribution.

We answer slowly but carefully. No mailing lists, no auto-spam.