🏮 Hofu Tenmangu Goshinko Sai

防府天満宮御神幸祭

Hofu, Yamaguchi (Hofu Tenmangu Shrine) · Every year on the 4th Saturday of November

Mikoshi

75 days to go
Rooms around Hofu, Yamaguchi fill up while the festival is on.

The Mifune Festival at Hofu Tenmangu Shrine in Hofu, Yamaguchi Prefecture, is held every year on the fourth Saturday of November. Also known as Hadaka Dosha Festival, it is one of the most wild festivals in western Japan. It originated in 1004 (the first year of Kangyo) with the Chokushi Kousai, when an imperial envoy of Emperor Ichijo reported the matter of Sugawara no Michizane's wrongful accusation. Since then it has been passed down as the most important Shinto ritual conveying news of Michizane's innocence. In the late Edo period, ordinary people began to join the service to demonstrate their own purity, and because they purified themselves with cold water, they came to be called Hadaka Dosha (naked devotees). The festival begins at 18:00, when several hundred Hadaka Dosha pour into the worship hall shouting "Kyodai wasshoi." Following the lead mikoshi (portable shrine) and the first mikoshi, a 500-kg Oamisho mikoshi slides down the great stone steps in a spectacular procession, and about 5,000 Hadaka Dosha dance wildly. After that, the procession heads to the Okariyo about 2.5 km away at Katsuma-ura, where the Hamadono Shinto ritual comforts Michizane's spirit. After returning, visitors can pass under the Oamisho mikoshi in the "Oamisho Kuguri," and over the two days about 150,000 people liven up the city streets.