🏮 Onda Matsuri

おんだ祭り

Asuka, Nara (Asukaniimasu Shrine) · Every year on the 1st Sunday of February

Traditional performing arts

146 days to go
Rooms around Asuka, Nara fill up while the festival is on.

Onda Matsuri is a Shinto ritual held every year on the first Sunday of February at Asukaniimasu Shrine in Asuka Village, Nara Prefecture. Known as one of the three great strange festivals of western Japan, it has a long history of praying for a good harvest and prosperity of descendants, and attracts many worshippers each year. On the stage of the ritual, figures such as tengu and Otafuku appear, and starting with the actions of rice planting, a humorous performance unfolds that includes romantic advances, a wedding, and a marital harmony rite. Also, before and after the ritual, as a protection against evil, an old man and tengu carrying split bamboo called sasara go out onto the approach and walk around striking worshippers on the buttocks with all their might, which is a unique sight to see.

Getting there

From Kintetsu Kashihara Line 'Kashihara Jingu-mae Station' or Kintetsu Yoshino Line 'Asuka Station', take a Nara Kotsu bus and get off at 'Asuka Ohashi', then about 10 minutes on foot. Alternatively, from 'Asuka Station', about 30 minutes on foot.