TAKAYAMA, Gifu -- All 12 dazzling floats have gathered for the historic Spring Takayama Festival in this central Japan city for the first time in three years.

The Spring Takayama Festival, also known as the Sanno Festival, heralds the arrival of spring in Gifu Prefecture's Hida region. The two-day festival kicked off April 14, featuring a parade of the glittering floats.

For the first time in three years, all 12 festival floats gathered in the city center, including one that had undergone its first renovation in some 140 years. Near Takayama Jinya, an Edo period (1603-1867) government office and popular tourist spot, mechanical puppet performances were presented on three of the floats while foreign tourists enthusiastically took photos. In the evening, floats adorned with about 100 lanterns will parade through the streets.

Another parade of floats is scheduled for April 15. Over the two days, 180,000 spectators are expected to visit the event.

The Spring Takayama Festival is the annual festival of Hie Jinja Shinto shrine, also known as "Sanno sama," referring to the guardian deity of the southern half of the former Takayama Castle town. Together with the Autumn Takayama Festival, also called the Hachiman Matsuri, which features 11 floats different from those in the spring event, it is registered as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage under the "Yama, Hoko, Yatai, float festivals in Japan."

(Japanese original by Kazumasa Adachi, Gifu Bureau)