The Kakunodate Matsuri, held in Akita, Japan, is one of the most game-like festivals in the country in which the festival floats are repeatedly 'bumped' against each other in order to win the right of way. We hypothesised that the accumulation of serious ingenuity by each community that has preserved and operated the floats to win in the 'bumping' might be reflected in the structural form of the floats themselves. To test this hypothesis, we constructed structural models of two floats, one new and one old, and carried out collision simulations. As a result, it was confirmed that the floats, which tended to concentrate the impact force at the front of the structure during a collision, were modified to distribute the impact over the entire structure, preventing axle damage due to stress concentration and at the same time reducing the impact on the musicians on board in the middle of the float.
This result is consistent with folkloric research that has pointed out that improvements have been made to the form, mainly by carpenters in each community managing and operating the floats. Minor changes have been made within the scope of conventional wood construction methods and blacksmith skills, suggesting that these efforts have collective intellectual value. From the structural changes to the floats, it can be confirmed that carpenters gradually improved the structures of the bearers, chassis parts, and musicians’ space that protect people to meet site requirements. The existence of moderate skill and technology within everyday life and the continuation of community organizational structure to sustain them are understood as an accumulation of historical knowledge to win this game.