🏮 Kenkoku Kinenbi Kawa Watari Bonten

建国記念日川渡り梵天

Daisen, Akita (伊豆山神社) · Every year on 11 February

150 days to go
Rooms around Daisen, Akita fill up while the festival is on.

Kenkoku Kinenbi Kawawatari Bonten is a festival held every year on February 11, National Foundation Day, with Izusan Shrine in Daisen, Akita Prefecture, as its main venue. Also called "Kawa o wataru bonten" (bonten crossing the river), it is known as a traditional event praying for a good harvest and freedom from illness. Its origin is unclear, but it is said to have continued since the Edo period and has been passed down along with local faith. The highlight is the roughly one-meter cylindrical bonten carried out from each district, parading through the town to the sound of conch shells and the "Bonten song," and finally entering the river near the shrine and crossing while kicking up spray. This river crossing has a purifying meaning, and participants are filled with excitement, undeterred by the cold.