🏮 Daito Ohara Mizu Kake Matsuri

大東大原水かけ祭り

Ichinoseki, Iwate (Hachiman Shrine) · Every year on 11 February

150 days to go
Rooms around Ichinoseki, Iwate fill up while the festival is on.

In Ōhara, Daitō-chō, Ichinoseki City, Iwate Prefecture, the Daitō Ōhara Water Splashing Festival is held every year on February 11. The venue is around Ōhara Shopping Street and other locations, where naked men run through while being doused with cold water by people along the route; it is a winter festival representative of Ichinoseki City and Iwate. This festival is a traditional event that has continued since the Edo period 368 years ago, and because it is held in the bitter cold of February, it is also called the 'strange festival of the realm.' The main attraction is the water splashing called 'kiyome-mizu' (purification water) that begins at 3:00 p.m., in which participants run boldly while praying for 'fire prevention,' 'good health,' and 'family safety.' In recent years, there have been many participants from all over the country, and the scale of the festival has been growing year by year.