🏮

🏮 Katae Sumi Tsuke Tondo Matsuri

片江墨つけトンド祭り

Matsue, Shimane (Katagoshi Area) · Every year in early January

116 days to go
Rooms around Matsue, Shimane fill up while the festival is on.

In the Katae district of Mihonoseki, Matsue, Shimane Prefecture, the Katae Sumitsuke Tondo Festival is held on the first Sunday on or after January 6 each year. A traditional event long passed down in Oki and Izumo, it begins at 7:00 with "tondodate" (building the tondo hut), and from 10:00 "sumitsuke" (ink marking) takes place. A distinguishing feature is that participants dip daikon radishes and the like in ink and smear it on each other's bodies. The festival carries a tradition that if you are marked with ink, you can spend the year in good health, and it has been handed down in the region as an old custom wishing for freedom from illness and good health. The highlight of the event is the unique sight of people marking one another with ink regardless of who they are, and this distinctive form of health prayer. In winter Mihonoseki, you can experience a traditional New Year event.

Getting there

From JR Matsue Station, take the Ichibata Bus bound for Mihonoseki Terminal for 40 minutes; at the terminus, transfer to the Mihonoseki Community Bus bound for Shichirui for 12 minutes; get off at Katae Chuo and it is immediately there.