Kumano Hongu Taisha Spring Festival
This spring festival is held April 13th to 15th every year and is not only a quintessiantial festival of Kumano but intimately associated with the pilgrimage to Kumano and the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage route.
April 13th: Yunobori-shinji, hot water purification and pilgrimage ritual
On April 13th fathers and their young sons purify themselves in the sacred waters of Yunomine Onsen
before walking over the Dainichi-goe section of the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage route
to Oyunohara wearing traditional costumes. The young boys have the character for big written on their forehead and are forbidden to touch the ground.
April 15th: Portable Shrine Procession
On April 15th the Kumano Deities are invoked to temporarily take up residence a portable mikoshi shrine and returned to their original site of descend, Oyunohara. It is carried with great pomp and circumstance on the shoulders of 20 to 30 people. It’s an exciting event as the mikoshi is spun and tossed in the air as it makes its rounds purifying the village. At Oyunohara various rituals and celebrations take place, including fire rituals and mochi rice cake scramble. The atmosphere is serene, traditional, authentic and inspiring. Yamabushi mountian ascetics also perform a fire ritual. If you are interested in experiencing a traditional festival in the quiet, spiritual mountains of Kumano this is the festival for you.
