Shoreisai Festival at Mount Haguro

About

On New Year's Eve, Mount Haguro hosts the most important festival of Dewa Sanzan Shrine, carried on through the night into New Year's Day, which is why it is also called the Toshiya-sai, the Night of the Year festival. It marks the completion of the Winter Peak, one of the four seasonal retreats of Haguro's mountain ascetics. Two matsu-hijiri are chosen from the shrine town of Toge and undergo a hundred days of austerities, praying for a rich harvest and peace in the land. On New Year's Eve, local young people climb the mountain at dawn to build two giant torches shaped like tsutsugamushi, a demon-like creature. Everything that follows, from the crow-jumping rite to the dragging of the giant torches at the signal of the fifth conch blast, unfolds as a contest between the two sides. After midnight come a rite to define the land and a rite kindling the first fire of the new year.

Sources

• OfficialDewa Sanzan Shrine www.dewasanzan.jp
• OfficialYamagata Prefectural Tourism Association (Yamagata Kanko) yamagatakanko.com
• Reference松例祭｜旅東北 www.tohokukanko.jp

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.