Gotanda Hashira Festival

Festival highlights

Highlights include the basket filled with hemp wood at the top of a pole over 20 meters high, and the thrown torches aimed at it.

Young people from each district gather and throw torches all at once. When one hits, the basket of hemp wood catches fire.

The festival is characterized by the spirited sight of fireballs dancing in the night sky and the contest to hit the target.

Thrown torches that set the night sky ablaze: Gotanda’s traditional fire festival of appeasement

What to expect

The event begins by erecting a pole over 20 meters high at Gotanda Riverbank, now Ōji no Mori Park, and holding a shinji.

Afterward, young people from each district set fire to hemp wood bundled with thin rope and throw it toward the basket atop the pole.

The event ends when a torch hits the basket and it catches fire.

Tourist information also introduces dances performed to “Gotanda Kouta” and “Hashira Matsuri Ondo” by the women’s section of the preservation society.

Location and access

Venue and address

Ōji no Mori Park, 1-9 Gotanda, Yawatahama, Ehime Prefecture

Train and bus

1-minute walk from Ōji no Mori Park bus stop, Uwajima Auto

Parking

Kamiyama Elementary School, about 100 spaces, free

Address 1-9 Gotanda, Yawatahama, Ehime Prefecture

Dates and season

Season

Every year on the night of August 14

Frequency

Every year

Accommodation and hotels PR

Origins and History of Gotanda Hashira Festival

The festival’s background includes a story that Kongōin, an ascetic practitioner, was mistaken for an enemy and shot dead during the Sengoku period.

It is said that when a serious illness spread in Gotanda during the Edo period, rumors blamed the curse of Kongōin, and the Hashira Festival began to appease his spirit.

For fire-safety reasons, the venue moved from Gotanda Riverbank to Ōji no Mori Park in Showa 50 (1975). The festival was designated an Ehime Prefecture Intangible Folk Cultural Property in Showa 40 (1965).

Official information

Ehime Prefecture’s “Ehime Cultural Properties (Takara)” provides information on the origins of the Gotanda Hashira Festival, how the event works, and its cultural property designation.

The festival is managed by the Hashira Festival Preservation Society.

Gotanda Hashira Festival at a Glance

The Gotanda Hashira Festival is a fire festival in Gotanda, Yawatahama, said to have begun to appease the spirit of Kongōin.

Flaming hemp-wood torches are thrown toward a basket atop a pole about 20 meters high erected in Ōji no Mori Park. The event continues until a torch hits the basket and it catches fire.

This traditional event has also been designated an Ehime Prefecture Intangible Folk Cultural Property.