🏮 Okera Mode
おけら詣り
Kyoto (Yasaka Shrine) · Every year on 31 December
Official site →108 days to go
Rooms around Kyoto fill up while the festival is on.
Okera Mairi is a traditional New Year event held every year from December 31 to January 1 at Yasaka Shrine in Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture. From New Year's Eve night into New Year's Day, a grass called okera is burned in the shrine grounds, and there is a custom of transferring that fire to rope or paper, taking it home, and using it as the kindling for the new year. By eating mochi or sake cooked with this fire, people pray for freedom from illness and good health. It is a practice that has continued for several hundred years, and it strongly preserves the Japanese culture of viewing fire as sacred since ancient times. Many worshippers swing long ropes to keep the fire from going out, and the shrine grounds are lively throughout the night.
Getting there
Walk from the nearest station (see the official website for detailed routes). Bus access is also available.
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Local specialities
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