Annual Festivals & Events

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.

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/

Date: March to 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.
　

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/

Believed to have begun during the Kamakura period and have an impressive history of about 700 years, this event is a seasonal summer tradition of Sakai. It first began when local fishermen made offerings of fish during Sumiyoshi Festival’s Mikoshi Togyo parade, and a fish market started being held on Ohama beach. The most exciting attraction is the fish auction that starts from around 19:00, and there are a lot of stalls at booths to ramble and shop around.
Date: 31 July
Place: Ohama Park
Time: 13:00-21:30
Nearest Station: Sakai station (Nankai Line)

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.

The most famous traditional festivals in Sakai are the futon daiko and danjiri festivals. You will see large portable shrines being shouldered and paraded around at futon daiko 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)

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 futon daiko 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, futon daiko consists of a platform with a taiko drum, on top of which are five overlapping layers of vermillion cushions. About 70 people carry the futon daiko, 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 futon daiko floats of all sizes move in and out of the shrine over the course of two days.

Along with the futon daiko 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)

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.

The Sakai Festival has been held on the third Saturday and Sunday of October every year since 1974 as a way for residents to show their pride in their city. Central to the festival is a massive street festival, divided into several zones, such as stage parformance, martket, gourmet and family. Typically attracting more than 400,000 attendees, the event captures Sakai's uniquely historic and international flavor. Besides, traditional Futondaiko float procesion is a great spectacle and graceful tea ceremony serivice reflects the city's pride in the culture of the way of tea, which was perfected by Sakai-born great tea master Sen-no-Rikyu.

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.