🏮 Kumano Hongu Reitaisai

熊野本宮例大祭

Tanabe, Wakayama (Kumano Hongu Grand Shrine) · Every year on 13 April

MikoshiTraditional performing arts

211 days to go
Rooms around Tanabe, Wakayama fill up while the festival is on.

Kumano Hongu Reitaisai is the largest festival in the area, held every year from April 13 to 15 at Kumano Hongu Taisha in Tanabe, Wakayama Prefecture. The Yuto Shinji on the 13th is designated an intangible folk cultural property of Wakayama Prefecture, and a total of 40 to 50 people, including Shinto priests under the chief priest, mountain ascetics, and chigo (young children serving in the rite) aged 2 to 3, head to Yunomine Onsen while singing sacred songs to the beat of drums. The deity of Kumano is said to reside in the chigo's head, so during the rite the children are carried on their fathers' shoulders, and at Yunomine Oji the Happatsu Shinji is performed to induce the spirit to possess them. At the Togyo Sai on the 15th, which brings the festival to a close, a mikoshi (portable shrine) decorated with the "chobana" associated with Kumano Musumi no Kami departs the main hall and is carried to Oyunohara, the site of the former shrine grounds. The procession is followed by chigo, miko (shrine maidens), and Shinto priests, and at Oyunohara, Yamato dances by local children, dances by miko, a rice-planting rite by the chigo, and a goma burning and mochi-throwing by mountain ascetics are offered, drawing large numbers of attendees.

Getting there

Hongu, Hongu-cho, Tanabe, Wakayama Prefecture. Held at Kumano Hongu Taisha. For details on buses and other transport from the nearest station, see the transportation information on the official website.