🏮 Shimotsuki Matsuri

霜月祭り

Minamishinano, Nagano · Every year on 1 December

Traditional performing arts

78 days to go
Rooms around Minamishinano, Nagano fill up while the festival is on.

In the Toyama region of Minamishinano Village, Nagano Prefecture, the Shimotsuki Festival is a yudate (hot water offering) Shinto ritual held in December, organized by the shrines of Kizawa, Wada, Kamimura, and other areas. Masked performers dance to kagura music and offer water boiled in a cauldron to the deities. It is named after the old lunar month of Shimotsuki, and in some areas it is known by different names. The origin is said to be a ritual to dispel the weakening of the sun and nature at the winter solstice, offering hot water to the gods and praying for rebirth with a pure soul. The yudate is modeled after court rituals of the Jōgan era during Emperor Seiwa's reign, and traces its lineage to Ise Shrine, passed down almost in its original form. There is also a theory that a memorial service for the Tōyama Tosa-no-kami clan was added. Highlights include the appearance of each shrine's unique masks and the "yukiri" in which boiling water from the cauldron is splashed with bare hands. After the yukiri, the yomote (four masks) dance among the worshippers to the beat of drums and the call of "Yōse Yōse," bringing the festival to its climax. The ritual in the cold and darkness is described as "cold, sleepy, smoky," and it is said that people are healed together with the gods.

Getting there

About 15 minutes by bus or taxi from Hiraoka Station on the JR Iida Line. By car, about 60 minutes from Iida IC on the Chuo Expressway via National Route 151.