Hana Matsuri is a festival of rebirth. During the season when the days are at their shortest, people prayed for the rebirth of the sun. It is an ancient festival.
You can experience such a festival in Aichi Prefecture. The centre of Aichi Prefecture is Nagoya City, which can be described as a major city second only to Tokyo and Osaka. Toyota’s headquarters are also in Toyota City. That’s the sort of place it is. But it’s actually quite a struggle to get to the venue for this Hana matsuri (festival). The Hana Festival is currently held at 15 locations across Aichi Prefecture, but all of them are deep in the mountains, in places that can only be reached by driving endlessly up long, narrow, winding roads. As a result, travel agencies now organise tours to the area.
Consequently, travel agencies now organise tours to the event. The Hnamatsuri festival runs from November to March. It is said to have once lasted a whole week, but it has since been shortened. Even so, it can still go on for a day and a night.

Toyotetsu Sightseeing has also begun to offer tours. Even with a car, it is dangerous to go to a mountainous sight-seeing area at night. We recommend that those who wish to visit join a such a tour.

“Hanamatsuri” is a festival centered on Oni (ogres). So maybe there used to be a tour like this.

This article is based on the 2018 tour at Sakauba.

Date; The weekend in late November
Location; 29-4 Miyanoshima, Sakauba, Toyone Village, Kitashitara District, Aichi prefecture
Access; Approximately 1 hour and 5 minutes by car from the Shinshiro Interchange on the Shin-Tomei Expressway

Hello and welcome to the tour

Here comes the festival at last

Yamami-Oni 山見鬼

Tehohe, Tehohe,. Tewotole tole

Sakaki-Oni 榊鬼

It was around 3:30 in the morning when the Sakaki Oni, the main character of the Hana Matsuri, made his appearance.

First, the dance of the accompanying Oni enlivens the occasion.

Negi, Okina, Miko (or Oturuhyala) 禰宜、翁、巫女（おつるひゃら）

Breakfast, and Yubayashi 湯ばやし

Asa-Oni 朝鬼~ ending

After the Yamami-oni and Sakaki-oni, the last Oni appears. That is the “Asa-oni”. The literal translation is “morning oni. The Asa-oni knocks off the symbol of the gods that is suspended from the “maido”. Next, a lion appears to purify the scene. After that, People return the deities they invited back to where they came from, and all festivities come to an end.
But it’s time for us to leave.

Fifteen Hana Matsuri have survived throughout the region, and although the people in each community suffer from a shortage of labor, they held between November and March of the following year. In order to support the festival, buses run late at night from the nearest station to each area on the days when the festival is concentrated, and travel agencies offer tours such as the one introduced in this article. It is one of the festivals where you can feel the original landscape of the Japanese people.

I would like to conclude with a comment posted on Instagram by a young woman who lives in the area.
She commented, “Life in general is inconvenient here, too, but I think it’s okay to continue living here because of the Hanamatsuri.”

Official site of Aichi prefecture https://aichinow.pref.aichi.jp/en/events/detail/1637/

Official https://aichinow.pref.aichi.jp/features/detail/125/

There are many different kinds of Oni in Japan, each with a unique characterization. They often bestow good fortune on people even though they are Onis, and the distinction between Onis and deities is often unclear. This time, the Oni is a bad one. As expected, he challenges the warrior deity, the symbol of goodness, to a fight. His appearance looks as if he is making fun of the warrior deity, which is why people commonly call this ” Oni no Karakai” (Karakai means to make fun of). The demon, whose body is as round as a drum, provokes the warrior god. The warrior god remains calm and collected. As many as 60,000 people will gather here to watch this battle.

Date: February 10th-11th, every year
Location: 3-17 Hatcho-dori 八町通り, Toyohashi-shi, Aichi prefecture
Access: From Toyohashi Station on the JR or Meitetsu 名鉄 Line, board a streetcar at Toyohashi Ekimae 豊橋駅前 and disembark at the Shiyakusho-mae 市役所前 stop. Or get off at Toyohashi Koen-mae 豊橋公園前 stop. Approximately 3 minutes on foot.

The history of the festival

According to the writings, the shrine was founded around the 10th century.It is unclear whether or not events were held at that time. However, it can be assumed that there was something like a New Year’s Eve event to ward off demons. It is estimated that it took its present form around the 16th century. There are still some old Oni masks donated by the lords of the time. The shogun who opened the Edo shogunate told his vassals that he saw a demon festival in 1554. It is clear that by that time the festival had already taken on its present form.

Outline

Eve of the festival

The festival has a fixed date every year: February 10. The day before that is the evening festival.
The main character on the previous day is the Blue Demon, a new character in the festival that first appeared 60 years ago. His appearance is almost the same as the red demon.
First, a blue Oni comes to the shrine in the morning. Then, one of the biggest incidents in Japanese mythology, the “Opening of Ama-no-Iwato” is performed. One of the main characters in the opening of Ama-no-Iwato is “Tajikara-o”, the most powerful creature in the world of deities who pushes open the door. He plays this role. After that, the group of the blue Oni goes out to the town. After this, Kagura and Taiko performances are held at the shrine, as well as a rehearsal for the unmasked child Oni.
At night, the Tengu and the red Oni practice for the last time without their masks on. After this, all that is left is the day of the performance.

On the day

Finally, the day of the event. Kagura and various other events are held at the shrine from the morning. The main events of the day are the Tengu and the Red Oni. The first child Oni arrives at the shrine in the morning where the Kagura is held. The child Oni is about twelve or thirteen years old, but is the same as the adult Oni. The weight of their costumes is about half, but it is still about 10 kg. The child Oni throws a special candy called “Tankiri,” and then goes out into the town.
At the same time, the Tengu and the red Oni do their final purification and prepare to put on their costumes. The costumes weigh about 20 kilograms. If it rains, it will weigh twice as much. Once the costumes are put on, they cannot be taken off easily, so they have to keep them on for about 12 hours until the end of the festival. Therefore, when they drink water, they have to keep it on their mouths.

Highlights

2:00 p.m. When the drums sounded, the two parties finally appeared in the precincts. By this time people are filling the precincts of the temple. On the side, a black Oni is waiting in the wings to act as a judge. He never speaks. He is very unassuming, but important.
The red Oni provokes the tengu this way and that. The tengu, however, is unmoved. Then, the red Oni, annoyed with the situation, begins to perform a secret technique. The official explanation is that this secret art is a product of a generous age. First, he throws a tool in his hand, but next, he throws snot at them.

At this point, the red Oni finally runs out of strength and flees with his guards in tow. In doing so, he scatters candy called “tankiri candy. This is the highlight of the festival. Tankiri candy scattered with white powder. The whole area turns completely white and chaos ensues. As it is, the red Oni moves out of the precincts and into town. From here, the nine-kilometer-long, nine-hour-long procession begins, which lasts until nightfall.

Even after the red ogre has left the precincts of the shrine, each township performs a variety of kagura. These are valuable performing arts that have retained much of their original form from the Middle Ages. The tengu also goes out to wash away the town by a route different from that of the Oni, after performing a ritual to predict the harvest. This is the start of a long, long journey into the night.

A peek behind the scenes

How do we decide who will play the roles of oni and tengu, the two biggest protagonists of the festival? Basically, it’s whoever wants to play them. There are no particular rules. It can be any boy from the town. However, there is an unwritten rule that once you have played a role, you must be involved for seven years. That’s what they do before they play the tengu, two roles before they play the tengu, and four roles after they finish. That is how our predecessors have kept the festival alive for so long.

They also say that role-playing begins the day after the festival. Some people abstain from alcohol, others start running. There are no rules. It all depends on the individual. However, the costumes weigh more than 20 kg and cannot be easily taken off once put on. They are not allowed to go to the restroom on the day of the festival, so they are required to drink a minimum amount of water. By the end of the day, the weight of the costume will be nearly 30 kg due to sweat absorption.

From February 1, they are not allowed to eat food prepared by young women, nor are they allowed to talk to them. Every day, they bathe in water to purify themselves.
Only those who have experienced the role in the past are allowed to help the young women put on their costumes on the day of the festival. The rest of the townspeople have their own rules. This is how the festival has been and will continue to be handed down.

Touohashi official https://www.honokuni.or.jp/toyohashi/en/festival/000018.html

Date; the nearest Saturday to the old calendar is New Year holiday of the 7th of January (about 1 month later than the present calendar, 15th February 2020)

Location; Takizan town komo 107, Okazaki city, Aichi prefecture

Access; about 30 minutes by bus from Higashi Okazaki station (Meitetsu line). Higashi Okazaki is about 45 minutes by train from Nagoya

Introduction

　This time, an event we introduce is “Takizanji no oni matsuri” (Ogres fire festival in Takizanji-temple). It is held in Aichi prefecture. The climax of three ogres emerging around fire is really awsome. This event starats at 4:00 pm, but the time the ogres emerge is at the very end only 10 minutes before the end. It will be at about 7:45 pm. So, you must wait for 2 to 3 hours, if you see it from front. But, lot of people still go. They say it’s worth waiting for long time.

　I went there 2020, so I write this article based on that time. But, the flow of the festival is the same every year.
　On the day, the bus leaves every 30 minutes from Higashi Okazaki (東岡崎) station (Meitetsu line). If you go by car, there is a park in a place little far from the temple . A shuttle bus goes from there.

　When I arrived there at 5:00 pm. You get off a bus, you go up the long stairs.

　You see a big main hall in front when you finish going up the last stairs. The beam of the roof greatly protrudes from main hall. The roof which covers the stage is large and imposing. People had already lined in three rows around the main hall (Honden) and camera tripods were lined, too. I guess they had waited from around noon.
　There are several big barrels filled with water to the beam and in front of th main hall, and the firefighting team stands by, too.
　On the left of me, there is another 2 story building, it is already full of guests. They are visitors who reserved special dishes (\4,000 as of 2020). 2 big torches which are set at the entrance are waiting to be lit to signal the start. In an average year, they say that it smows, that day was comparatively warm.

　I will write mostly about the climax, but I’ll example the flow for the time being. If you want to Jump to the climax, scroll to the end, please.

　This temple was built in 686 AD. At the end of the 12th C, the temple had accepted it’s faith from Minamoto-no Yoritomo who established his Shogunate at Kamakura, so this temple ushered in the golden age. Following a decline from 15 C~16 C, it was revived by the protection of the Tokugawa (Shogun of Edo shogunate 17 C~19 C) and continues up to the present day.
　People who are called “Junininshu 十二人衆(12 people) manage the whole festival. They are the people who inherit this role from generation to generation, And a person who is called “Taiyaku (it means general manager) gives instructions.

　At 4:30 pm, they beat Taiko (Japanese drum), and at 5:30 pm, the chief priest enters the temple, Buddhist memorial service begins.
It usually gets dark at around this time.
　Juninin-shu group starts to go around the temple for the purpose of purging noxious vapors.

Meanwhile, a program host introduces the 3 people, 2 adults and 1 child, who play the leading parts of the ogres. They must purity themselves for 1 week. They can’t eat any meat, and can’t accept help from women. So, fathers offer their dishes to the children.

　In this festival, 3 ogres emerge. They are called “mask of grandfather”, “mask of grandmother”, and “mask of grandson”. Why are there not “mask of father” and “mask of mother” ? There is a mysterious legend. Once upon a time, two priests visited this temple and they said “Shall we wear masks ?”. They wore masks without purifying themselves. They could not take off the masks and they had just died. People who felt pity kindly burried them. A grave remains now in this temple, so the group goes to the place to pray.

　At 6:30 pm, people throw beans and rice cakes for good fortune.
　At 7:00 pm, two young people get on the stage and wield long swords, “Naginata 長刀” for purging noxious vapors in the east and west. After this performance, two of the Juninin-shu perform a play of imitation of farming. They use words from the Kamakura period which even few modern Japanese can understand.

fire and ogres~climax of the ceremony

　Finally they sing a song. By this time, the precincts would be overflowing and crowded with people. After they get off the stage, a young person holding a long sword gets on the stage again. He wields it, and in the end, he swirls it around and slams it down against the floor, making great noise. This abruptly signals the start of the main event.

　Many people holding a big torch (about 2.5 meters long) with fire emerge. They shout in a loud voice “Wah, Wah, Wah !”. Fire alarm bells resound intensely. They wore a white towel covering their heads and cheeks and were dressed in all white. A fire blazed as if it reaches the roof. Sounds of fire alarm bell gave the audience great surprise making them feel uneasy at first, but later shout for joy. The area is instantly thrown into a commotion. The scene is amazing and fantastic.
　 They emerge from the right side and enter the left side of the main hall. The ogres still do not emerge. From the next lap, the ogres finally appear.

　At first, the grandfather ogre, second, followed by grandmother ogre and at last, the grandson emerges.

　Ogres siddled along between a big fire. Only grandson walks on the handrail held by people beside both side. There are about 30 torches is almost like a fire. This building is an important cultural property, so I was afraid of it burning down. But the people almost seemed as if they did not care about that, and they swung the torch up and down.

　sparks were scatterd intensly, the fire blazed mor and more. Halfway during the lap, the grandson ogre was held high at the corners and at the front.

　He totally looked like king of demons. But these ogres are not demons. They held a big rice cake in their hands, because they are ogres giving fortune to people. And a rice cake is a symbol of New Year’s fortune.

　They went around the hall 3 times and it suddenly finished.
　Time goes by frantically.

　They were left stupe fied for a while, and before long they returned to reality. and begin getting ready to go back home.
　There is an open space on the way out as the audience go down stairs where buses waited for them. The bus to the station from next line to the row of buses going to the parking lots. The buses depart in order as soon as it become full.

　I think that this event is worth going despite the long waiting time. The experience of the ogres fire festival at Takizanji-temple, Lasts only 10 minutes but will remain our memories forever.