Hata no Dondo-yaki

Festival highlights

A highlight is the distinctive shelter for seclusion, built from bamboo and kaya grass.

Unlike the typical Dondo-yaki structure, where bamboo is stacked around a central pillar to form a tower, this tradition involves building a shelter where local people spend a set period of time.

Afterward, old ofuda and shimenakazari decorations are placed with the shelter, which is then set ablaze all at once.

This fire festival, unique to the Hata district, preserves a form of the event that has become less common elsewhere.

Hata’s fire festival, where the shelter for seclusion is burned and people give thanks for fire and pray for health and protection from illness and misfortune

What to expect

The event begins with building a shelter for seclusion from bamboo and kaya grass.

In the shelter, local people observe okomori, a period of seclusion and purification before the kami.

The period of seclusion is said to last about two weeks. Afterward, they set fire to the shelter along with old ofuda and shimenakazari decorations.

Through the fire, they pray for health and protection from illness and misfortune, and give thanks to the god of fire.

Location and access

Venue and address

Hata Reisen-mae Hiroba (Hata Reisen parking lot) / Hata, Buzen City, Fukuoka Prefecture

Address Hata, Buzen City, Fukuoka Prefecture

Dates and season

Season

Feb

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Nearby attractions

Near Hata Reisen-mae Hiroba, the festival site, are Hata Reisen-kan and Hata Spring.

Hata Spring is introduced as a Buzen sightseeing spot where clear water wells up at the base of a great camphor tree over 850 years old.

You can also learn about places connected to the natural environment and religious traditions of the same Hata district as the festival.

Origins and History of Hata no Dondo-yaki

Dondo-yaki is a rural event originally held around Koshogatsu, the Little New Year on the lunar calendar, to pray for health and protection from illness and misfortune.

In the Hata district, the tradition is to build a small shelter for seclusion from bamboo and kaya grass, spend a period purifying oneself, and then burn the shelter.

As this once-common event has become less frequent in many places, the festival remains a distinctive folk event in the Hata district and is designated an Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Buzen City.

Official information

Buzen City’s official website introduces the origins and traditions of Hata no Dondo-yaki in “Popular Religious Beliefs Passed Down to the Present Day.”

Hata no Dondo-yaki at a Glance

Hata no Dondo-yaki is a fire festival in the Hata district of Buzen City, centered on a shelter for seclusion made from bamboo and kaya grass, with purification rituals followed by setting the shelter alight.

After about two weeks of seclusion, they burn the shelter along with old ofuda and shimenakazari decorations, praying for health and protection from illness and misfortune.

It is designated an Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Buzen City, preserving the form of a rural event held around Koshogatsu, the Little New Year on the lunar calendar.