🏮 Konaki Zumo
子泣き相撲
Hirado, Nagasaki (Saikyoji Temple) · Every year on 3 February
Official site →142 days to go
Rooms around Hirado, Nagasaki fill up while the festival is on.
At Saikyo Temple in Hirado City, Nagasaki Prefecture, the Kosaki Sumo event is held every year on Setsubun (the day before the start of spring). On the sumo ring, infants around one year old compete in crying, and the one who cries first wins. It is said to have originated about 400 years ago, when a baby's crying drove away a ghost, and today it is a well-known Setsubun tradition in Hirado, cherished as a wish for children's health and growth. The highlight is the sight of the sumo ring echoing with the cries of infants. As participation from outside the prefecture increases year by year, carrying the auspicious meaning of "a crying child grows up," the event has drawn enough attention to be featured on national news. Held at the inner sanctuary of Saikyo Temple, this event has become a seasonal sight of early spring in Hirado, visited by many tourists each year.
Getting there
Access to Saikyo Temple is about a 10-minute walk from the Hirado Sakura bus stop, or about a 15-minute walk from the Hirado Ohashi bus stop. If traveling by car, use the Saikyo Temple parking lot.
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