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November 2020
River Do! Hiroshima River Festival
Come down to the River Do! River City Festival on the grassy riverbank next to Chuo Park between 10am and around 6pm on November 8.
Find out more »Ebisuko Festival
Ebisu Shrine's autumn festival marks the arrival of winter in Hiroshima. Known among locals as Ebessan after the god of commerce, surrounding stores hold sales and buy komazarae bamboo rakes adorned with gold coins and atreasure ship. You might here business owners complain that the whole thing is a racket, but you won't see a shop, restaurant or bar in the area without one. A huge barrel with mouth wide open is placed in front of the shrine to receive offerings. Learn more…
Find out more »December 2020
New Year at Gokoku Shrine
December 31 From 17:00 Ooharae-shiki (purification ceremony) & Joya-sai (seeing out the old year festival) From just after 11pm the bell in the main shrine building opens for clanging and the ceremonial sake starts to be served to the first of the over half a million people who will visit over the next few days. 24:00 Shrine maidens dance to welcome the new year. January 1 10:00 Saitansai is a Shinto ritual to mark the beginning of New Year, followed…
Find out more »Chinkasai Fire Festival
With most people living in the wooden houses, closely clustered together along narrow streets for centuries, fear of calamitous fires is deeply ingrained in the Japanese psyche. The Chinkasai on Miyajima is an impressive fire appeasing festival held on New Year's Eve. Read more about the Chinkasai Fire Festival here.
Find out more »January 2021
New Year rituals at Itsukushima Shrine
Jan 1 Shin-i Kenjo-shiki Ceremony (offering new clothes to deities) from midnight Saitan-sai Festival Ceremony Bugaku traditional dance performance starts at 5:30am. Jan 2 Futsukasai Ceremony 09:00 Omatsubayashishinnou Bugaku traditional dance performance 13:00 Jan 3 Genshisai Ceremony 09:00 Bugaku performance 13:00 Jan 5 Chikyusai Ceremony and Bugaku performance 05:30 Includes Batoh (Sunrise Dance) only performed once a year on this day.
Find out more »Dezomeshiki Firefighters Expo
Watch the firefighters display their skill, see their fire engines and helicopters in action.
Find out more »Nanakusa-gayu at Tōshō-gū Shrine
800 bowls of the healthy seven-herb rice porridge traditionally eaten on January 7. Available from 11am until they are all gone (¥300 a bowl). Read more about the Nankusa-no-sekku festival here.
Find out more »Momote-sai
Ritual firing of the first arrow at Omote Shrine on Miyajima is held on January 20 every year. Click here for more info and pics.">Click here for more info and pics.
Find out more »February 2021
Mihara Daruma Festival (Shinmei-ichi) [CANCELLED]
During the 3-day Mihara Daruma Festival the streets are taken over by stalls selling lucky daruma dolls and every kind of festival food you can imagine. The pride of Mihara is also on display, the nation's biggest daruma doll which weighs in at a couple of hundred kilograms. Read and see more photos from the "Daruma Festival" here.
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