Tanebo Shrine Autumn Festival Owatari

About this event

A traditional autumn festival passed down in Tanebo, Iga City, Mie Prefecture, the "Tanebo Shrine Autumn Festival Owatari" features the unique "Kotatsuki Gogyo" (portable shrine procession), an event unprecedented in Iga. This ritual is said to depict the ancient appearance of the Kashima deity traveling across the water by boat. In the procession ceremony, led by a lion dance (shishi kagura), a procession of kotatsuki, sumo banners, and shrine parishioners—along with a horse sprint and a rare boat-shaped danjiri float that is unusual for a mountainous area—parades back and forth three times to the temporary shrine (otabisho) approximately 100 meters away. During the Yoimiya eve festival, a ritual ceremony, dedicatory dances (maihime dancers, musicians, lion dance), yu-kagura (hot water ritual), dedicatory taiko drumming, complimentary sake service, and Gion-bayashi music are performed. On the annual Grand Festival day, the grand ritual ceremony, attendance rite, dedicatory dance (Tanebo Lion Kagura), horse sprint, and the Owatari procession ritual (boat-shaped danjiri and sumo banners) are conducted. As one of Iga's rare festivals featuring boat-shaped danjiri, kotatsuki, and horse sprints, it attracts many spectators every year.

Venue

Tanebo Shrine

1278 Tanebo, Iga, Mie 518-0217