2025 Event Schedule

Friday, July 25 & Saturday, July 26

Oizu Gion Festival

◼︎ Higashi District
Friday, July 25, 2025 – From 5:30 PM

◼︎ Sanko and Yama-Oyodo Districts
Saturday, July 26, 2025
・Children’s Mikoshi Parade (Sanko area): 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
・Gion Festival: 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Note: Festival floats (dashi) will parade through each district.

Fireworks Festival

Saturday, July 26, 2025
7:20 PM – around 9:30 PM
Approx. 5,000 fireworks will be launched.

Oizu Gion Festival

The Oyodo Gion Festival is a traditional event
held in the Oyodo district of Meiwa Town,
with a proud history dating back to the mid-Edo period—
spanning over 270 years.

Originating from folk beliefs
to ward off epidemics and pray for a bountiful harvest,
the festival honors Susanoo-no-Mikoto,
the Shinto god of storms and the sea.

During the Yomiya (Eve Festival) and Hongu (Main Festival),
festival floats (dashi) from three districts
parade through the town streets,
while the Kaijo Togyo—a sacred boat procession—
unfolds on the sea as the festival’s main highlight.

Once every five years,
the grand “Sansa Soroi-bumi” takes place,
when all three floats gather at Oyodo Port,
bringing the entire town together in celebration.

While preserving its deep-rooted traditions,
the festival continues to embrace new ideas—
a proud and evolving symbol of summer in Oyodo.

Oizu Gion

Fire
Works

Festival

The Fireworks Festival That Adds Sparkle to the Oyodo Gion Festival

The fireworks festival that complements the Oyodo Gion Festival
is said to have begun around 1907 (Meiji 40),
making it a traditional event with over 100 years of history.

At its peak, up to 10,000 fireworks light up the night sky,
drawing 20,000 to 30,000 visitors each year
to the small fishing port spanning just a few hundred meters—
creating a vibrant and electric atmosphere.

There was a time when fireworks continued well past midnight,
reflecting the passionate spirit of the local community
to “put on the best fireworks show.”
That sentiment lives on today,
as the event remains a major highlight of Meiwa’s summer.

Each district brings its own creativity to the festival,
with traditional tsunabi (fuse-line fireworks)
and artistic competition in elaborate display designs.
These fireworks leave a lasting impression on all who attend.

Such traditions continue to thrive today,
serving as a source of pride for the local community.

Sacred Sea Procession

Kaijo Togyo — The Sacred Sea Procession

After parading through the town,
the Sanko district’s dashi (festival float)
is loaded onto a boat at the port and carried across the sea.
This is the symbolic Kaijo Togyo—
the essence of the Oyodo Gion Festival.

The powerful moment when the float is transferred
to the large barges Narihira and Yukihira,
followed by the quiet, solemn movement over water,
truly feels like “the gods are crossing the sea.”

The sacred procession to Taikai Shrine and Yodohime Shrine
remains the emotional climax of the festival,
deeply moving all who witness it.

About the Gion Festival

HIGASHI-SEKO

The Higashi District Gion Festival is known as the Yoi-miya—
a ritual held on the evening before the main festival (Honmiya).
During this ceremony, Susanoo-no-Mikoto is welcomed and enshrined on the dashi (festival float),
which is then prepared to be handed over for the main festival on the following day.

Around the midpoint of the evening,
the festival reaches its climax
as the hayashikata (festival musicians) and nedori dancers perform,
their movements lit by lanterns that illuminate the night.

The highlight is the dramatic moment in front of the Gion Storehouse,
when the float is turned three times—
a powerful spectacle where the carriers and the audience become united in spirit.

MISEKO

In Miseko, the Heart of the Oyodo Gion Festival

In Miseko, the central stage of the Oyodo Gion Festival,
the celebration begins exactly at midnight
with the raising of four ceremonial banners.

In the morning, a children’s mikoshi (portable shrine) procession takes place.
In the afternoon, a dashi (festival float) carrying the deity of Takeo Yodo Shrine
parades through the district.
It is then pulled to Oyodo Fishing Port
for the sacred sea procession known as Kaijo Togyo.

At night, the float—illuminated with lanterns aboard the boat—
forms a dramatic backdrop as fireworks light up the sky.
The most breathtaking moment comes
when the float is pulled back from the boat to land,
accompanied by the powerful rhythm of traditional festival music.

Yama-Oyodo

The Yama-Oyodo Gion Festival is a time-honored celebration
that venerates Takesasafue Shrine (Takesasafue Jinja),
a sacred site known as a former location of Ise Grand Shrine (Moto-Ise).

On the afternoon of the main festival day,
the dashi (festival float) becomes a “moving vessel of the divine”
and is pulled through the streets in a powerful parade,
as prayers for peace and safety fill the town.

As dusk falls, the sound of festival music grows louder,
shouts of the float pullers echo through the streets,
and fireworks light up the eastern sky—
bringing the festival to its grand and emotional climax.