🏮 Yamakita no Omine Iri

山北のお峯入り

Yamakita, Kanagawa (Shinmei Shrine) · Every year in mid October

Traditional performing arts

31 days to go
Rooms around Yamakita, Kanagawa fill up while the festival is on.

Yamakita no Omineiri is a festival held every five years on October 14 in Yamakita Town, Kanagawa Prefecture, rooted in the Shugendo rite of saito. Its venue is Shinmei Shrine on the mid-slope of Mount Ono, and it preserves to this day a tradition based on the ancient belief that gods descend to the mountain. This festival is thought to have developed from an original religious ritual in which ascetic practitioners trained in the mountains and acquired magic, fusing with the folk performing arts of each era. Access to the venue involves a 'michiyuki' procession along the ridge of Mount Ono, and the mountain landscape, free of modern structures, creates a distinctive atmosphere. At Shinmei Shrine, eleven types of song and dance passed down orally are offered, including 'Misogi,' 'Mangetsu no Uta,' 'Shikashi Odori,' 'Shugyo Odori,' 'Shisetsu Odori,' and 'Goshiki Odori.' Among them, the 'Bo Odori' is a valuable piece showing the process by which the magical practices of primitive religion became a performing art, and it once had a strict tradition permitting only the eldest son who would inherit the family headship to dance it.