The 300-year-old Nozawa Onsen Dosojin Matsuri is a sacred festival tradition, taking place on 15th January every year.
It began as an invocation for good fortune, health and abundance for the coming harvest. The festival has been designated as an intangible cultural property of Japan.
The Nozawa-gumi, a traditional local council, instruct the “Sanyakou” - men of the critical ages of 40 to 42 years and 25 years - to lead the festival. These ages are considered to be at increased risks of unlucky events and incidents according to the Japanese calendar.
The Sanyakou accept their fate as members of the village and take full responsibility of the festival, making them recognised and respected by other villagers.
When the summer months slip away, the local men who will be aged 25, come 15th January, are called upon to chop down the wood required to build a great wooden shrine from the nearby mountains.
Two days before the festival, the fallen trees are dragged down from the Hikage ski area to the main village square in a ritual procession. Houses along the side of the road where men are carrying the 20-meter long beech trees devote “sacred sake” (Japanese rice wine offered to Gods).
A loud announcement of appreciation and a ceremonial hand-clapping are displayed every time when “sacred sake” is donated by villagers. The donated sake is then offered to audiences.
The Shrine is constructed in the main village square. Once completed, a Shinto priest from the local shrine performs a Dosojin (Shinto god) endowment ceremony.
7pm
on the day of the festival, representatives of the Sanyakou visit the Kouno Family of Terayu where a ceremony for receiving sacred fire is held. Traditional flints, that have been passed down from generation to generation, are used to light fire for the festival.
8pm
a big torch is lit with the sacred fire. Representatives of Sanyakou now head to the festival venue by singing songs for Dosojin.
8:30pm
The battle with villagers and the Sanyakou finally commences. A president of Nozawa-gumi, the organizer of the festival, first lights his/her torch, followed by dedicators of lanterns, children, then the rest of villagers.
Villagers light their torches in front of the shrine and try to attack the shrine. A group of the Sanyakou at the age of 25 protects the shrine from the attack while another group of Sanyakou at the age of 42 stands on the top of the shrine. The battle ensues until, with enough offerings of torches to the Dosojin, the shrine erupts into flame and the festival slowly draws to a close.
10pm
with over an hour of struggles, the battle ends by the traditional hand clapping of both parties. The shrine continues on burning until the following day. This fascinating traditional fortune telling has been passed down since Edo era.
Etiquette
Audiences are more than welcome. The festival is a friendly, fun, exciting and unique occasion to be enjoyed by all. Be sure to take lots of pictures. To those taking part and the local community, the festival is sacred and holds deep meaning and importance. Please be respectful at all times and do not be tempted to get involved or take anything home with you as this may hold spiritual significance to those taking part.
All information is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of writing.