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- Tenteko (Festival) / Niike Hachiman Shrine
Nishio-City Tenteko (Festival) / Niike Hachiman Shrine
Held every year on January 3, Tenteko Festival is all about prayers for a rich harvest. It is said that the festival first started because this area was chosen as the source for the newly harvested rice Emperor Saiwa used to make offerings to the deities in the Heian period.
Red costumed men at the so-called "unlucky age" bearing a radish carved in the shape of a phallus on their bottom parade through the town, while swaying their hips to the rhythmical beat of the drums going, "Ten-teko Ten-teko". When the parade reaches the grounds of the shrine, straw ash is stirred up vigorously with bamboo brooms so that it coats the revelers - a tradition said to ward off bad luck.
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