🏮 Shujo Onie

修正鬼会

Kunisaki and Bungotakada, Oita (Iwato Temple, Jobutsu Temple, Tenno Temple) · Every year on 7 January of the lunar calendar (Tennenji); Iwatoji and Jobutsuji alternate, held on the holiday nearest 7 January of the lunar calendar in odd years and nearest 5 January in even years

Traditional performing arts

Official site →

Shusei Onie is a New Year fire festival passed down through the Rokugo Manzan temples of the Kunisaki Peninsula in Oita Prefecture, held at Iwato Temple and Jobutsu Temple in Kunisaki City and at Tenen Temple in Bungotakada City. It was designated a national Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property in 1977 and is known as part of the Japan Heritage site "Kunisaki, the Village Where Oni Became Buddhas." The festival is said to combine Shusho-e, a temple New Year rite praying for a bountiful harvest of the five grains, with Tsuina-shiki, a rite to drive out evil oni, and is traditionally attributed to the monk Ninmon Bosatsu, founder of the Rokugo Manzan temples, in the Yoro era; it is thought to have a history of more than 1,200 years. Monks dressed as oni such as Suzui, the red Saiharai oni, and the black Ara oni walk in procession through the temple grounds and villages carrying torches. The oni are not evil spirits but ancestral spirits who have changed form, and the rites pray for household safety and freedom from illness. At Iwato Temple and Jobutsu Temple the festival is held alternately on a holiday around the 5th or 7th day of the first lunar month, while Tenen Temple holds it every year on the 7th day of the first lunar month.

Getting there

Public transport: about 40 minutes by Daikou Hokubu Bus from JR Usa Station, get off at the "Nagaiwaya" stop and walk immediately. By car: about 15 minutes from Bungotakada IC on the Higashikyushu Expressway. Parking available.