The Oni Matsuri (Ogre Festival) is held every third Saturday of February in the city of Okazaki. An epic festival featuring a wild dance of ogres and torches, participants carry 30 torches to the main hall of Takisanji Temple (one of the nation’s Important Cultural Properties) and perform a wild dance.
Part of the festival involves blessings for men aged 42, 25 and 12, then 3 men are selected as representatives to participate in the fire ceremony in the main hall and wear ceremonial masks.
The 42-year-old man wears the mask of a grandfather, the 25-year-old man wears the mask of a grandmother, and the young man wears the mask of a grandson.
The demons are chased with large torches by 30 men through the temple as if in a wild dance, until the demons are driven away by fire. The ogres (masks) that the grandfather and grandmother wore, said to have been made by Unkei, appear amidst the fiercely burning flames and grant peace on earth and a bountiful harvest.
The festival is famous as a traditional religious ceremony to welcome the beginning of spring, dazzling and at the same time scary because it uses a huge amount of fire inside the wooden temple.
- Festival: Ogre and Fire.
- Location: Okazaki – Aichi.
- Date: Every year on the 3rd Saturday of February.
- Time: From 1:00 pm to 8:00 pm.
- Admission: Free.
- Parking: Free.
Aichi-ke Okazaki-shi Taki-cho Aza Yamagomori 107