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Annual Festivals & Events

Update:2022/5/13

January

Ebisu Festival

Date: 9-11 January
Place: Sugawara Shrine (2-1-38 Ebisuno-cho Higashi, Sakai-ku)
Access: 10 minutes from Sakai station (Nankai Line) or Sakaihigashi station (Nankai Koya Line). Also 3 minutes from Oshoji station (Hankai Tramway).
This is a festival to celebrate “Ebe-ssan” (Ebisu), the Japanese god of fishermen and business prosperity. People visit to buy a lucky bamboo branch and decorate it with lucky charms for prosperity and wellbeing, or a bamboo rake decorated with auspicious motifs to “rake in” the good luck and fortune for the next year. These are especially popular amongst business owners and you can see them placed inside shop/restaurant walls.

Otondo (Great Bonfire)

Date: Last Sunday of January
Time: 10:00-16:00
Place: Ebaraji Temple (1-8-20 Ebaraji-cho, Nishi-ku)
Access: Tsukuno station (JR Hanwa Line) or Monjumae bus stop (Nankai Bus)
Otondo is a fire festival where a huge bonfire is lit and its flames reaching as high as 5m. Shimekazari (New Year’s decorations), old good luck charms and talismans and other items on which New Year’s wishes and resolutions were made are burned in prayer for good health for the New Year. Ebaraji Temple is well known for being built on the birthplace of the great priest Gyoki.

February

KIX Senshu International Marathon

The Senshu area comprised of 9 cities and 4 towns in southern Osaka is promoting the KIX Senshu International Marathon as one of the major sporting events in Japan with over 5,000 runners from across the country and overseas.
This event was first held in commemoration with the opening of Kansai International Airport in 1994.
The full marathon starts in Hamadera Park, enters Sakai and then goes to Rinku Park in Izumisano City.
Official website: http://www.senshu-marathon.jp/

March

Hina Dolls for Hinamatsuri

Date: 3 March to 3 April
Time: 10:00-17:00 (last entry at 16:30)
Closed: Every Tuesday
Cost: 100 yen (Seigakuin) 200 yen (Yamaguchi Residence) 250 yen for both
*free for junior high school and younger, Sakai residents 65 years of age and older, and those with disabilities
Access:
● Seigakuin – 5 minutes on foot from Takasu Jinsha station (Hankai Tramway) or Shichido station (Nankai Line)
● Yamaguchi Residence - 3 minutes on foot from Ayanocho station (Hankai Tramway)
No car parking is available so please use public transport.

The old part of the town where Seigakuin and the Yamaguchi Residence contains a number of old town houses which survived the war and date back as far as the Edo period (17th-19th century). Such houses will also be displaying hina dolls for everyone to see, particularly on weekends. Please confirm opening hours beforehand as they vary depending on facilities.
 

May

Children’s Day Decorations

Date: 27 April to 30 May
Closed: Every Tuesday (Open on 3 May)
Time: 10:00-17:00 (last entrance 16:30)
Cost: 100 yen (Seigakuin) 200 yen (Yamaguchi Residence) 250 yen for both
*free for junior high school and younger, Sakai residents 65 years of age and older, and those with disabilities
Access:
・Seigakuin: 5 minutes walk from Takasu Jinsha station (Hankai Tramway) or Shichido station (Nankai Line)
・Yamaguchi Residence: 3 minutes walk from Ayanocho station (Hankai Tramway)
No car parking is available so please use public transport.

Seigakuin and the Yamaguchi Residence will display samurai armors that have been handed down for generations. The Yamaguchi Residence will also be decorated by a big carp streamer that is hand-painted by a craft master designated by Osaka Prefecture, and hold a carp streamer workshop on 29 April at 10:30 and 13:00. Reservations open from 10:00 4 April (6 people in one session, 1000 yen + admission). First come first serve basis, please call or fax the Yamaguchi Residence. TEL & FAX: 072-224-1155

Tour of Japan - Osaka Stage

The Tour of Japan has developed itself into one of the most competitive international race in Asian region, involving participation of UCI professional teams and world’s best riders. Needless to say, it is the only stage race event held across the country, and bigger in scale compared to most of the sports event in Japan. Nearly 360,000 spectators visit the venue and watch the race on the road throughout the stages. The first of six stages starts in Sakai!
Official website: https://www.toj.co.jp/

  • For 2022, it will not be taking place in Sakai but there are 4 stages being held in other cities.

August

Manto-e Buddhist Lantern Festival

Date: 15 August
Place: Hounji Temple (192 Imai, Mihara-ku)
Access: Catch the Nankai bus from Hatsushiba station (Nankai Koya Line) to Imai-minami bus stop
Manto-e is a traditional Buddhist rite where people light lanterns for the spirits of the dead and also pray for good health. The Manto-e Buddhist lantern festival at Hounji Temple started in 1825 but stopped indefinitely until about 100 years passed before it restarted.
The candles of the Manto-e calm and cleanse the hearts of all those who look upon them and are thus known as “healing lights”. On the night of Obon (15 August) as many as a thousand lanterns glow with the wishes and hopes of those who lit them, creating an enchanting atmosphere in the grounds of Hounji Temple.

September

Futondaiko Festivals

The most famous traditional festivals in Sakai are the futondaiko and danjiri festivals. You will see large portable shrines being shouldered and paraded around at futondaiko festival. At danjiri festivals you will see giant floats with exquisite wood carving barreling down the streets pulled by many people.
Aguchi Shrine (tbc)
Sugawara Shrine (tbc)
Funamachi Shrine (tbc)
Hochigai Shrine (tbc)
Kahyo Shrine (tbc)
Iwatsuta Shrine (tbc)
Mozu Hachimangu Shrine, Ishizu Shrine, Yasaka Shrine (Noto-cho), Yasaka Shrine (Nakamura-cho) (tbc)

Tsukimi (Moon Viewing) Festival

Date: Nearest weekend to August 15 on the lunar calendar
Place: Mozuhachimangu Shrine (5-706 Mozuakahata-cho, Sakai-ku)
Access: Mozu station (JR Hanwa Line) or Mozuhachiman station (Nankai Koya Line)
Of all the futondaiko festivals in southern Osaka, Mozuhachimangu Shrine holds one of the most well-known. The record says it has a long history of more than 300 years and came to be from prayers for good harvest, combined with the customs of celebrating the full moon. About four meters high and weighing roughly three tons, futondaiko consists of a platform with a taiko drum, on top of which are five overlapping layers of vermillion cushions. About 70 people carry the futondaiko, with their unique shouts of "bera-bera-bera-sho-shoi" mixing with the sound of the drum as they proceed through towns. Afterward, the drum is dedicated to the shrine. During this magnificent and dynamic festival, 17 futondaiko floats of all sizes move in and out of the shrine over the course of two days.

October

Danjiri Festivals

Along with the Futondaiko Festival, the Danjiri Festival is typical of the Sakai region's autumn festivals. Rolling danjiri carts are pulled through the streets in a lively festival overflowing with energy and vigor that is famously unique to the Senshu area. In Sakai, individual neighborhoods maintain over 80 danjiri carts and take great pride in the festival's rich historical traditions. In October of each year, the festival begins at Otori Shrine and continues at the autumn festivals of numerous shrines.
Kusabe Shrine, Otori Grand Shrine, Tsukuno Hachiman Shrine (tbc)
Ishizu Shrine, Hishiki Shrine, Nonomiya Shrine, Yasaka Shrine (Minamihanada-cho), Hirokuni Shrine, Tampi Shrine, Sugo Shrine, Hagiwara Shrine, Tajihayahime Shrine, Sakurai Shrine, Mitami Shrine (tbc)
Suearata Shrine, Atago Shrine (tbc)
Hachita Shrine (tbc)

Ko-odori Dance Festival

Date: First Sunday of October
Place: Sakurai Shrine
The Ko-odori dance festival is said to have originated as a rain-making prayer dance. Today the festival has been designated as an intangible Folk-Cultural Asset. The humorous dance, performed by 17 dancers dressed as demons and long-nosed tengu goblins, has been passed down from generation to generation since the Kamakura period. The dance is first presented at the site of the Kuni Shrine, then it heads toward Sakurai Shrine. The procession of dancers singing religious songs looks like as if it were in the fairytale world.

December

Yassaihossai

Date: 14 December
Place: Iwatsuta Shrine
Access: Ishizugawa station (Nankai Line) or Ishizu station (Hankai Tramway)
The words “Yassai Hossai” originate from the Japanese for “108”, from a legend in which Ebisu (the god of prosperity in business) washed ashore at Ishizu-no-Hama beach and local fishermen lit a fire of 108 bundles of firewood to warm him. The cinders are said to ward off evil spirits if taken home afterwards.

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