🏮 Wakasa Omizu Okuri

若狭お水送り

Obama, Fukui (Jinguji Temple and Unose) · Every year on 2 March

169 days to go
Rooms around Obama, Fukui fill up while the festival is on.

Every year on March 2, the Wakasa Omizu Okuri is held at Jinguji Temple and Unose in Obama, Fukui Prefecture. A ritual marking the arrival of spring in Wakasa, it takes place ahead of the Omizutori at Todaiji Temple's Nigatsudo in Nara on March 12, and is a historical event that carries on the old connection between Nara and Wakasa. After water drawn from the Akai well at Jinguji Temple is purified through various rites, the 'okozui' water is poured into the Onyu River at Unose, about 2 km away. This water is said to take 10 days to reach the Wakasa well at Todaiji Temple's Nigatsudo, where it is drawn up during the Omizutori on the 12th. The highlight is the roughly 2 km torch procession from Jinguji Temple to Unose. Led by a large torch, hundreds of torches light up the darkness of the winter night, creating a fantastical scene where fire and water intermingle.