🏮 Hachiko Jinja Sai

蜂子神社祭

Tsuruoka, Yamagata (Hachiko Shrine) · Every year on 31 August

Summer festival

351 days to go
Rooms around Tsuruoka, Yamagata fill up while the festival is on.

At Hachiko Shrine at the summit of Mount Haguro in Tsuruoka City, Yamagata Prefecture, the Hachiko Shrine Festival (Hassaku Festival) is held every year from the night of August 31 to the early morning of September 1. It is one of the ascetic rituals of Dewa Sanzan Shrine, in which yamabushi (mountain ascetics) light a large shibato goma fire in the front garden of Hachiko Shrine and pray for a good harvest and household safety. This festival is intended as a "wind-calming" rite to calm the wind so that the ripened rice is not flattened by it, and because the night before the first day of the eighth lunar month was made the festival day, it is called the Hassaku Festival. It is a historic ritual originating in the "Akimine no Gyo" (autumn peak practice) that traces the ascetic training of its founder, Prince Hachiko. The regular festival begins at 22:00, and yamabushi light a large shibato goma fire at Hachiko Shrine at the summit of Mount Haguro. It continues to be passed down today as a traditional ascetic event of Dewa Sanzan praying for autumn's abundance.

Getting there

From JR Tsuruoka Station, take a bus bound for the summit of Mount Haguro for 50 minutes, or from Shonai Asahi IC on the Yamagata Expressway, drive for 40 minutes.