murmurYassai Hossai Fire Festival at Iwatsuta Shrine
Sakai City · Iwatsuta Shrine, Hamadera Ishizu-cho Naka, Nishi Ward, Sakai
Dates and details can change. Always check the official website before you go.
Sakai Tourism & Convention Bureau · Last checked: Oct 11, 2026
Dates
Dates not confirmed
- 2026
- Dates have not been announced yet. Please check the official website.
- 2027
- Dates have not been announced yet. Please check the official website.
- Usual timing
- Usually mid December
- How the date is set
- Every year on December 14 December 14 every year
- Venue
- Iwatsuta Shrine, Hamadera Ishizu-cho Naka, Nishi Ward, Sakai
- City
- Sakai City, Osaka
About
Every December 14, Iwatsuta Shrine in Hamadera, Sakai's Nishi Ward, holds a fire-walking rite. One hundred and eight bundles of firewood are burned before the shrine, and once the stack of sacred wood called the tonto is ablaze, a villager chosen as "Ebisu-san" is hoisted up and carried through the flames to shouts of "yassai hossai." The rite is said to come from a tale of villagers who rescued the deity Hiruko when he washed ashore here and built a fire to warm him. Its mix of Ebisu worship and Shugendo mountain asceticism has earned it the label "curious festival of Senshu," and Sakai City values it highly as a folk cultural asset. A half-burned piece of firewood taken home is said to ward off misfortune.
Sources
- OfficialSakai Tourism & Convention Bureau www.sakai-tcb.or.jp
- OfficialSakai City Cultural Properties Division www.city.sakai.lg.jp
Last checked: Oct 11, 2026. Event information is based on official announcements, but changes may not always be reflected here. Please check each official website for accurate details.
Other events this month
On the day, see what locals are murmuring on the murmur map
murmur is an app that shows short, anonymous posts on a map, right where they were written. On festival day, open the map around the venue and see what people nearby are saying.