Japan Today carries a report of an interesting midwinter festival in northern Japan. Fifteen “namahage” bearing torches of fire come down a mountain on Sunday night at the 51st Namahage Sedo Festival. Held over three nights every February in … Read the rest
February 3 is Setsubun when Japanese mark the seasonal break and look forward to the coming of spring. In Japan’s old lunar calendar, taken from the Chinese, it used to be associated with the New Year which took place … Read the rest
Tōka Ebisu is one of the big festivals held at the beginning of the new year, around the 10th of the month when you’ll often often people with small businesses clutching good luck charms for the business year head, … Read the rest
Any Shinto followers looking to catch a bit of Christmas spirit in Japan at this time of year might head for the Hiraoka Shrine in Osaka, where there’s a laughter festival led by shrine priests…
Check out this link for … Read the rest
Today’s picture in Japan Today is of a Halloween parade with about 3,000 participants and over 100,000 spectators. Every year in Japan there’s noticeable increase in Halloween decorations, and now there’s more than I recall ever seeing in Britain.… Read the rest
Just a reminder that Oct 22 is a big day for Kyoto, with the Jidai Matsuri (Festival of Ages) during the daytime and the Kurama Hi Matsuri (Fire Festival) in the evening. The former is run by Heian Shrine and … Read the rest
Another gorgeous day of autumn sunshine in Kyoto, and another glorious weekend festival at the intriguing Awata Shrine on the eastern side of Kyoto. The shrine used to be part of a Shinto-Buddhist complex based around its neighbour Shoren-in, … Read the rest
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