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🏮 Inami Sai

印南祭

Inami, Wakayama (Inami Hachiman Shrine) · Every year on 1 October

MikoshiFloatsFood stallsTraditional performing artsBon odori

17 days to go
Rooms around Inami, Wakayama fill up while the festival is on.

The Inami Festival is a traditional festival held every year on October 1 and 2 in Inami Town, Hidaka District, Wakayama Prefecture, and is the collective name for the festivals of Yamaguchi Hachiman Shrine and Inami Hachiman Shrine. This festival, which leads off the autumn festivals of the Kinan region, fills the area around Inami Port with excitement, centered on the two shrines. Highlights include the competition of yatai (festival stalls) at Inami Fishing Port and the bustle of street stalls, as well as Shinto rituals such as the Saika Odori (Kenken Odori), a dance associated with the Kishu Saika-shu, the Yakko Odori, and lion dances, performed on the beach as offerings. The most spectacular part is the "Kawawatari" (river crossing) for which the Inami Hachiman Shrine annual festival is famous: with young men carrying banners at the head, four yatai and a mikoshi (portable shrine) plunge into the Inami River and powerfully cross it. Afterwards, at Inami Port, the Higashiyamaguchi Jukebox Lion, with a history of over 400 years, is performed, carrying on the old tradition to the present.