🏮 Bonten Matsuri

梵天祭り

Utsunomiya, Tochigi (Haguroyama Shrine) · Every year on 23 November

The Bonten Festival is held at Haguroyama Shrine in Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, on the third Saturday of November each year. It is the shrine's annual grand festival, offered in prayer for a bountiful harvest and household safety. It is said to have begun about 300 years ago and is cherished as a traditional event deeply rooted in the local community. A bonten is a pole roughly 15 meters long, made by joining moso bamboo and madake bamboo, and decorated with brightly colored tassels. On the day of the festival, young men in happi coats shoulder it and climb toward the shrine from just before the approach to Haguroyama, chanting "essa, essa." Along the route, about 100 stalls and food stands are set up, and many shops selling yuzu, a specialty of Kamikawachi, can be seen. Since 2024, events such as flower chozu and hula dancing in kimono have been added, entertaining visitors to the shrine.

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