🏮 Uso Kae Shinji

うそかえ神事

Ryonan, Kagawa (Takimiya Tenmangu Shrine) · Every year on 24 April

Traditional performing arts

222 days to go
Rooms around Ryonan, Kagawa fill up while the festival is on.

The Uso-kae Festival is held every April at Takinomiya Tenmangu Shrine in Ayagawa, Kagawa Prefecture. This is a rite unique to Tenmangu shrines, also passed down at Dazaifu Tenmangu and Kameido Tenjin, among others. Worshippers receive handmade uso-dori (uso bird) dolls, which they exchange with one another to purify themselves of impurity. In Kagawa Prefecture, it is held only at Takinomiya Tenmangu. "Uso-kae" carries the meaning of removing sins and impurities committed without one's knowing, and of treating past wrongs as "uso" (lies) and "tori-kaeru" (exchanging) them for good things. Worshippers in the shrine grounds call out to each other, "Kaemasho, kaemasho" (Let's exchange, let's exchange), and exchange the uso birds as many times as they like. From Reiwa 7, the date was changed to the fourth Sunday of April, and in Reiwa 8 it will be held on April 26. Distribution of the uso birds begins at 10:00 a.m., and at 11:00 there are dedications of miko dances and lion dances, a noodle-offering ceremony by Ayagawa, and a comedy contest.

Getting there

Public transport: use Kotoden (Kagawa Kotohira Electric Railroad). By car, park at Roadside Station Takinomiya, the former Takinomiya Nursery School parking lot, the roadside station, or Ayagawa Town Hall.