A traditional Gotsuka event: hauling 2 pillars and raising them with prayers
Gotsuka Onbashira Festival
Festival information
EVENT INFORMATION- Location
- Takeminakata Tomino Mikoto Hikowake Shrine
- Area
- Nagano Prefecture・Iiyama City(From Tokyo: approx. 1 h 20 min–1 h 50 min · bullet train)Prefecture-level estimate to a main station or airport, not the venue. Airport access, check-in and onward travel are extra; remote areas and islands can take much longer.
- Highlights and activities
- Wishes behind the festival
- Last updated
- 2026/11/11
The Gotsuka Onbashira Festival is a pillar festival carried on at Takeminakata Tomino Mikoto Hikowake Shrine. The whole process of hauling the 2 pillars down from the mountain and raising them crossed in front of the main shrine has been passed down. It has been carried out according to an old ritual format, though in recent years some parts have been simplified and mechanized.
About Gotsuka Onbashira Festival
The Gotsuka Onbashira Festival is an intangible folk cultural property passed down at Takeminakata Tomino Mikoto Hikowake Shrine in Gotsuka, Iiyama City.
The pillars were 2 from the outset, not 4, and the steps from felling them on the mountain and hauling them down to bringing them up to the shrine and raising them have been passed down.
While the pillars are being raised, the Nakatomi purification prayer is recited in the , and the deities of wood, water, fire, and the five grains are enshrined.
In recent years, some parts of the event have been simplified and mechanized.
Festival highlights
Highlights include the process of bringing the pillars from the mountain to the shrine and the moment when the 2 pillars are crossed and raised in front of the main shrine.
Records state that the first pillar is five ken and five shaku long, and the second is five ken and three shaku long; both are at least one shaku thick.
A custom is also said to have been passed down of loudly chanting “Senshuraku” and “Banzairaku” once the pillars have been erected, followed by a donation of firewood money.
This event lets you experience both the festival’s power and its structure as a religious rite.
A traditional Gotsuka event: hauling 2 pillars and raising them with prayers
What to expect
The event begins with “mitate”—selecting the pillars by inspecting the cedar grove before the snow-free season.
In the second lunar month, a purification rite is held on the mountain before the trees are felled. Their branches are removed, and their tops are shaped like crowns.
In the third lunar month, the pillars are hauled by the sōsan-go to the rest area for the pillars, and on the day of the event the 2 are crossed and raised in front of the main shrine.
While the pillars are being raised, the Nakatomi purification prayer is recited in the haiden; once the work is complete, shouts are raised.
Location and access
- Venue and address
Takeminakata Tomino Mikoto Hikowake Shrine, Gotsuka, Iiyama City
Event venue 長野県飯山市 健御名方富命彦神別神社
This map uses the venue name. Check the official guide for the event area and entrances.
Accommodation and hotels PR
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Nearby attractions
小菅神社 (飯山市)
飯山市にある神社
Origins and History of Gotsuka Onbashira Festival
The Takahashi family priestly genealogy says that in Hōki 5 (774), pillars were erected on the left and right of the shrine to pray for a good harvest that year, but this account is said to have no other supporting evidence.
The ritual format practiced today is based on one transmitted in Kansei 12 (1800) by the head priest Takahashi Yoshiyasu from the Suwa Ōhōri, and compiled in the surviving “御柱祭礼圖式.”
The event has continued to be passed down since then, though some parts have been simplified and mechanized in recent years.
Official information
It is listed as a municipal intangible folk cultural property on the official Iiyama City website’s list of designated cultural properties.
Gotsuka Onbashira Festival at a Glance
The Gotsuka Onbashira Festival is a festival of 2 pillars passed down at Takeminakata Tomino Mikoto Hikowake Shrine.
The process proceeds from selecting and felling the trees for the pillars, to hauling them down from the mountain, crossing and raising them in front of the main shrine, and then to prayers in the haiden and shouts after the pillars are erected.
While the tradition that it began in 774 is said to lack supporting evidence, records describe how the ritual format was transmitted in 1800 and compiled into a festival diagram.
Sources and references
Japanese Festivals.jp Editorial Team
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Article updated: 2026/11/11
