Northern Japan · Miyagi · Shiogama
Hote Matsuri (Shiogama Shrine)
帆手祭(鹽竈神社)
A festival on 10 March at Shiogama Shrine in Shiogama, Miyagi. Sixteen bearers carry a portable shrine weighing about a tonne down the 202 steep steps of the main approach, the Otoko-zaka, parade it through the town and climb the steps again at night to bring it home. It began as a prayer against fire and is called one of the three great “wild” mikoshi festivals of Japan. 10 March every year.
Next
10 March 2027
RegularWorked out from the organiser’s fixed schedule.
127 days away
Every year, 10 March
Future dates: 10 March 2027 · 10 March 2028 · 10 March 2029
Origin
In 1682 the port town of Shiogama had lost its spirit: on top of a great fire, the Sendai domain’s new canal, the Teizan Canal, had changed the flow of goods. With the domain’s permission, the townspeople prayed at Shiogama Shrine for protection from fire and a return of prosperity, and are said to have paraded through the town carrying a bonten, a sacred staff in which the god dwells. Bearers are said to have carried a mikoshi since 1733; in 1872 the festival took the name Hote Matsuri and its date was fixed on 10 March. It began as a prayer against fire and now prays also for protection from misfortune and for prosperity. It is one of the three festivals in which the shrine’s mikoshi tours the town, and a component of the Japan Heritage story of the culture fostered by Date Masamune.
What to look for
A portable shrine weighing about a tonne is carried down 202 steep stone steps by only sixteen bearers. The tension holds even the watching worshippers breathless. The black-lacquered mikoshi was made in the Edo period. Known as a “wild” mikoshi, it moves as the god wills, suddenly breaking into a run or spinning round and round on the same spot. More than five hundred attendants in splendid dress and a procession of children follow it through the town, and at night the mikoshi climbs the stone steps of the main approach again to return to the shrine.
How to watch
The Hote Matsuri is a rite of Shiogama Shrine praying against fire, and the bearers are parishioners of the shrine. Because the mikoshi may suddenly run or spin as the god wills, keep some distance from it along the route.
If you go
The festival takes place on 10 March, from the grounds of Shiogama Shrine through the town of Shiogama. After the morning rite in the main hall, the mikoshi leaves the shrine before noon, tours the town and returns to the foot of the main stone steps at night. The shrine is about a ten-minute walk from Hon-Shiogama Station on the JR Senseki Line.
Where
Shiwahiko Shrine and Shiogama Shrine
Shiogama, Miyagi
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