🏮 Yutate Shinji

湯立神事

Yawata, Kyoto (Iwashimizu Hachimangu Shrine) · Every year on 1 February

Traditional performing arts

140 days to go
Rooms around Yawata, Kyoto fill up while the festival is on.

At Iwashimizu Hachimangu Shrine in Yawata, Kyoto, the Yutate Shinji ritual is held every year on a Sunday between late January and early February. This traditional rite heralds spring around Setsubun, and is characterized by drawing sacred water from the Iwashimizu spring, one of the five waters of Otokoyama, boiling it in a cauldron, and offering it before the deities. The service begins at 10:00 a.m. The central act of the ritual is the yutate, in which a kagura maiden violently sprinkles the boiling water from the cauldron using bamboo leaves. This ancient ceremony prays for protection from misfortune, good health, and a bountiful harvest by being sprinkled with this water, and a solemn atmosphere spreads along with the steam filling the shrine grounds. As a Setsubun tradition unique to Iwashimizu Hachimangu, many worshippers visit.

Getting there

From Iwashimizu-Hachimangu Station on the Keihan Main Line, take the approach cable car to Cable-Hachimangu-Sanjo Station, then walk about 5 minutes. Alternatively, walk about 30 minutes from the same station (front approach).