Tatsukuri Festival and Hiburi Fire Ritual at Aso Shrine

About

Each March, Aso Shrine celebrates a divine wedding to pray for a good harvest. The groom is Kunitatsu-no-kami, who is also an ancestral god of the shrine's priestly families. The dates follow the traditional zodiac calendar, running for seven days from the day of the Snake to the day of the Boar. The god sleeps at a different priest's house every night, and those homes hold rites and kagura morning and evening. On the day of the Monkey, priests go about 10 km west to the Miyayama district to fetch the bride, embodied in a piece of oak, who is purified and made up along the way. As the party approaches the shrine at dusk, bundles of reeds are lit and whirled along the approach in the Hiburi fire ritual while the wedding takes place. On the final day, the newlyweds are presented with a play acting out the work of the rice fields.

Sources

• OfficialAso Shrine asojinja.or.jp
• Reference炎の輪、幻想的に参道彩る 阿蘇神社「火振り神事」（熊本日日新聞） www.kumanichi.com

Last checked: Oct 10, 2026. Event information is based on official announcements, but changes may not always be reflected here. Please check each official website for accurate details.