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- [Closed to the public] Omi-no-Hoka Festival
Shinshiro-City [Closed to the public]
Omi-no-Hoka Festival
Date : 08/14/2022, 08/15/2022
The 2022 Omi-no-Hoka Festival will be held closed to the public.
Rugged Men Bearing Gigantic Fans and Drums Dance in a Mesmerizing Ritual!
Deep amidst the mountains of Okumikawa area in the city of Shinshiro, rests the old Senshoji Temple. Every year on August 14th and 15th, the townspeople hold the unique Omi-no-Hoka Festival at the temple's grounds, a local tradition persisting from the Kamakura Period, and appointed an Intangible Folk Culture Heritage of Aichi Prefecture. Since those olden times, it has been part of the local celebrations for Obon.
In this peculiar ceremonial event, a group of men with gigantic 3-meter high fans strapped to their backs will dance around while carrying and playing big fat drums about 50 centimeters in diameter each. It is believed that the fans will both drive the music of drums and bells to echo across the mountains, and "fan away" the sorrows for the year, whilst soothing the souls of the ancestors.
While simple in its procedures due to the countryside location of the temple, it is a memorable sight to behold!