Ayabe First Ebisu Grand Festival

The Ayabe First Ebisu Grand Festival is a festival in Ayabe held in January to pray for business prosperity and household safety. Events featuring New Year good-luck items include lucky draws, amazake, auspicious bamboo branches, and kumade rakes.

About Ayabe First Ebisu Grand Festival

The Ayabe First Ebisu Grand Festival is held every January to pray for business prosperity, household safety, and other blessings.

At Ayabe Ebisu Shrine, visitors can take part in lucky draws, receive amazake, and obtain or purchase good-luck items such as auspicious bamboo branches and kumade rakes.

Throughout the 2-day festival, visitors seek out good-luck items.

Festival highlights

A highlight is the sight of the shrine grounds lined with good-luck items typical of an Ebisu festival.

In addition to lucky draws, auspicious bamboo branches and kumade rakes are available, and amazake is served.

The festival spans 2 days, the Eve of Ebisu and Main Ebisu, with different time slots listed for each day.

Ayabe's New Year Ebisu festival: seeking good-luck items and blessings

What to expect

At the festival, visitors seek out good-luck items such as auspicious bamboo branches and kumade rakes, and enjoy lucky draws.

Sweet amazake is also served, and visitors spend time in the shrine grounds as part of their New Year visit.

The event is divided into the Eve of Ebisu and Main Ebisu; the 2026 schedule listed the Eve of Ebisu on January 9 and Main Ebisu on January 10.

How to take part

A festival to pray for business prosperity and household safety.

Good-luck items such as auspicious bamboo branches and kumade rakes are sold, and lucky draws and amazake service are also offered.

It is described as an event where visitors seek out good-luck items.

Location and access

Venue and address: Ayabe Ebisu Shrine (within Kumano Shingu Shrine grounds) / 9 Kamimizoguchi, Namimatsu-cho, Ayabe City
Train and bus: Get off at Ayabe Station on the JR San'in Line and walk about 15 minutes east
Parking: Available

Address 9 Kamimizoguchi, Namimatsu-cho, Ayabe, Kyoto Prefecture

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Dates and season

Season: Every January
Frequency: Every year

Accommodation and hotels PR

Prices and availability are current at the time of retrieval. For multi-night stays, only the first night’s price is shown. Confirm the final price and directions to the venue with the booking provider. Select your dates again when using the area search link. Search area: within 3 km of Central Kyoto Prefecture / Ayabe City (the search is not centered on the festival venue)

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Nearby attractions

Nearby are Ayabe Baisyoen (Oomoto) and Konohana-an (the former Okahana family residence), both listed as 0.1 km away in a straight line.

Shōreki-ji Temple is 0.6 km away in a straight line, and Shisui-ga-oka Park is 0.7 km away.

Ayabe Tokusankan and Ayabe Gunze Square are also introduced as nearby spots 0.8 km away in a straight line.

Origins and History of Ayabe First Ebisu Grand Festival

The 2024 Ayabe City Tourism Guide states that the Ayabe First Ebisu Grand Festival has had “122 years of festival rites.”

The guide for that year also notes that the Eve of Ebisu featured the distribution of auspicious items, a grand lucky draw, and amazake service, while the Main Ebisu day featured the festival ceremony and the same events.

Official information

For inquiries, contact the Ayabe Tourist Information Center.

The phone number is 0773-42-9550.