Event Introduction
SPECIAL EVENTS
FEBRUARY
Setsubun
SETSUBUN, OBAKE (February 2-4):
Shrines and temples hold rites to exorcise demons, an event marking the start of spring according to the lunar calendar. The Setsubun Festival at Yoshida-jinja Shrine is especially lively, lined with stalls and crowded with people.
On the night of February 3, a ritual called "Obake" will be performed which casts out ghosts and evil spirits.
Baika-Sai
Geisha and maiko host an outdoor tea ceremony beneath the plum blossoms during Baika-sai, which takes place at Kitano-tenmangu Shrine each year on February 25. Visitors at the shrine can watch as they commemorate Sugawara Michizane on the anniversary of his death. Sugawara Michizane was a well-known scholar, politician, and plum-blossom aficionado of the Heian Period who is celebrated as the god of study in the shrine.