Tomie Shrine Annual Grand Festival

About this event

The Annual Grand Festival of Tomie Shrine is a traditional festival with over 300 years of history, held over four days every year from October 14 to 17. At the eve festival on the 14th, a ritual is conducted from 19:00, and Tomie Kagura is dedicated. On the 15th, the annual festival ritual and the procession of mikoshi (portable shrines) take place; following the grand festival ceremony at 10:30, four portable shrines—the children's mikoshi, elementary school students' mikoshi, junior high school students' mikoshi, and the adults' main mikoshi—parade to the temporary shrine at 15:00 with a unique carrying technique accompanied by the sounds of flutes and drums. In the evening, Tomie Kagura is performed before the mikoshi. On the 16th, the main mikoshi parades through town; in homes praying for newly built houses or business prosperity, a ritual called 'Kagura wo Ireru' is performed, while in other homes, a lion (shishi) and a demon (hanadaka) enter to conduct purifications. On the 17th, the return procession ritual is held with rituals similar to the outbound procession. The portable shrines in this festival are said by some to be 'the slowest moving in Japan,' advancing only about 200 meters in one hour.

Venue

Tomie Shrine

707-I Tomiemachi Matsuo, Goto, Nagasaki 853-0202