Firewalking ritual at Saikoku-ji Temple, Onomichi
Goma Ritual burning of cedar sticks followed by fire walking. Members of the public set themselves up for a fortuitous
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Winter
Chinkasai Fire Festival
With most people living in the wooden houses, closely clustered together along narrow streets for centuries, fear of calamitous fires is
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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
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Handel’s Messiah
The annual performance of Handel’s Messiah at Jogakuin High School is a rare chance to see a classical concert without charge. Child care is provided too!
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World Igloo Building Championships
Creative and speed building divisions in this fun, but quite hard day at Osorakan Ski Resort. See pictures and read
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Setsubun: demons, beans, fish heads, sushi and screaming children
Although temperatures in early February may make it hard to believe, Setsubun marks the coming of spring. On February 3,
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Dezomeshiki Firefighters Expo
Watch the firefighters display their skill, see their fire engines and helicopters in action.
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Tondo Matsuri
Ever wonder what everyone does with all those New Year arrows, rakes, daruma and that they buy at shrines every
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Nanakusa-no-sekku
Nanakusa-no-sekku [七草の節句] or the “the feast of seven herbs” is a day on which people in Japan customarily eat a
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Winter Illuminations in Hiroshima
Large scale illuminations have become a new winter tradition in Japan. Held all over the country, they certainly brighten up
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Snowy Tondo Festival at Gokoku Shrine
Gokoku Shrine’s annual tondo bonfire festival coincided with the biggest snowfall to hit the city in a generation.
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Ski buses to Mizuho
The “Snow Express” whisks you to and from the Mizuho Highland snow resort so you don’t have to stress about
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Sorasaya Shrine Tondo Festival
This tondo festival in Honkawa is a nice mix of shrine rite and neighborhood event.
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Christmas Illuminations at Hiroshima Botanical Gardens
The annual “Flower and Light Pageant” illuminations at Hiroshima City Botanical Gardens are some the most Christmassy in the area.
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Entries open for World Igloo Building Championships 2017
Entries are now open for the annual World Igloo Building Championships at Osorakan to be held on February 5. More
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Setsubun at Sumiyoshi Shrine
Many people from surrounding neighborhoods gather at the riverside Sumiyoshi Shrine on the afternoon of February 3 to commemorate Setsubun.
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Mizuho Highland
Located just over the border in Shimane Prefecture in Ohnan, Mizuho Highland is one of the region’s largest snow resorts.
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Bihoku Hillside Park Winter Illuminations
With a total of around 700,000 colorful LEDs lighting up the natural setting of the expansive Bihoku Hillside Park in
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New Year In Hiroshima
New Year is undoubtedly Japan’s most important – and longest – festival. However, in most of the country, you’ll disappointed
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Gokurakuji Onsen Arcadia Village
Arcadia Village is a good option for a reasonably-priced local overnight getaway or an hot spring day trip in the
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Mihara Shinmei-ichi Daruma Festival
Over 500 street stalls selling every imaginable kind of festival food, daruma dolls, a plant and shrub market, daruma dolls,
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Cute “ogre and club” bread sets for Setsubun
Oni ni kanabou [鬼に金棒] is a Japanese saying which literally means giving an iron club [kanabou/金棒] to an ogre [oni/鬼],
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Something in the Air
The question “Do you like Japan?” is one you’ll hear often…
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All you need to know to fully appreciate Hiroshima’s Dreamination lights
Hiroshima’s illumination extravaganza starts tonight when thousands of colored LEDs stretching about 2km in total length and fashioned into some
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The 1st World Igloo Building Championships
The inaugural World Igloo Building Championships took place in unseasonably warm and sunny conditions last weekend at the Osorakan ski
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Photos from Setsubun at Gokoku Shrine
Peter Peberhardt is getting around Hiroshima’s winter festivals. Following his set of January’s Tondo Matsuri on the beach next to
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Miyajima Tondo Festival
The mound of New Year decorations and previous year’s good luck amulets to be set aflame at Miyajima’s seaside Tondo
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Ume plum blossom in Shukkei-en Garden
Wandering through Shukkei-en Garden‘s beautiful ume plum orchard when the trees are in bloom never fails to brighten up a
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Hiroshima’s Big Wave Ice Rink
>Every autumn, the Big Wave Olympic-sized pool at Higashi-ku Sports Center in Ushita is emptied, covered and iced over for
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