Praying for a bountiful harvest in Ota by portraying a year of rice cultivation in a sacred field
The Otaue Festival at Higashi-Nagaoka Shinmeigu
Festival information
EVENT INFORMATION- Season / frequency
- The 2nd Sunday of April every year / Every year
- Location
- Higashi-Nagaoka Shinmeigu
- Area
- Gunma Prefecture・Ota City(From Tokyo: approx. 50 min–1 h · 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.
- Wishes behind the festival
- Last updated
- 2026/10/19
The Otaue Festival at Higashi-Nagaoka Shinmeigu is a traditional Ota City event that portrays the stages of rice cultivation in a sacred rice field on the and prays for a bountiful harvest. The specific actions passed down by parishioners offer a glimpse of the region’s agricultural culture.
About The Otaue Festival at Higashi-Nagaoka Shinmeigu
The Otaue Festival at Higashi-Nagaoka Shinmeigu is a held to pray in advance for a bountiful rice harvest.
In a sacred rice field set up on the shrine grounds, agricultural tasks from preparing the field to transplanting rice seedlings are symbolically reenacted.
The event conveys Ota City’s local culture and is carried on by Higashi-Nagaoka Shinmeigu, its parishioners, and the preservation society.
Source: 東長岡神明宮のお田植祭 - 太田市ホームページ（文化財課）
Festival highlights
A highlight is the sacred rice field, measuring about 3 meters on each side, set up within the shrine grounds.
Bamboo is erected at each of the 4 corners, and the area is marked with a and ritual paper streamers. After the priest’s prayers, parishioners demonstrate agricultural tasks.
A distinctive feature is the concrete portrayal of the entire sequence: breaking the soil with a hoe, sowing rice seeds, applying fertilizer, and transplanting rice seedlings.
Praying for a bountiful harvest in Ota by portraying a year of rice cultivation in a sacred field
What to expect
The event begins with the priest offering prayers in the sacred rice field.
Next, parishioners perform the actions of breaking the soil with a hoe, sowing rice seeds, applying fertilizer, and transplanting rice seedlings in sequence, symbolically reenacting the process from preparing the field to planting the rice.
Rather than involving actual work in a rice paddy, the ritual portrays the stages of rice cultivation as a Shinto ceremony.
Location and access
- Venue and address
Higashi-Nagaoka Shinmeigu (1876 Higashi-Nagaoka-cho, Ota City).
Address 1876 Higashi-Nagaoka-cho, Ota City
Dates and season
- Season
The 2nd Sunday of April every year
- Frequency
Every year
Accommodation and hotels PR
Showing nearby accommodation.
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 Gunma Prefecture / Ota City (the search is not centered on the festival venue)
Nearby attractions
ぐんまこどもの国
群馬県太田市にある公園
三日月村
群馬県太田市にある歴史のテーマパーク
世良田東照宮
群馬県太田市にある神社
冠稲荷神社
群馬県太田市細谷町にある神社
写真：photo: Qurren ( talk ) Taken with Canon PowerShot G9 X / CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo source ·
新田金山城
群馬県太田市にあった城
Origins and History of The Otaue Festival at Higashi-Nagaoka Shinmeigu
Higashi-Nagaoka Shinmeigu is said to have been founded in Genko 3 (1323), when a divided spirit was enshrined there from Ise Jingu.
Local documents suggest that the Otaue Festival may have begun during the Tensho era, in the time of Yura Narishige, lord of Kanayama Castle.
A document from Hoei 7 (1710), during the Edo period, records specific details of the event, offering a glimpse into its long history of transmission.
Official information
The Ota City Cultural Properties Division provides information on the Otaue Festival at Higashi-Nagaoka Shinmeigu, including its content, origins, location, and cultural property designation.
The Higashi-Nagaoka Shinmeigu Otaue Festival Preservation Society is named as a group that carries on the event’s traditions.
The Otaue Festival at Higashi-Nagaoka Shinmeigu at a Glance
The Otaue Festival at Higashi-Nagaoka Shinmeigu is a Shinto ritual in which the stages of rice cultivation are portrayed in a sacred rice field to pray for a bountiful harvest.
After the priest’s prayers, parishioners perform the actions from breaking the soil with a hoe through transplanting rice seedlings.
Designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Ota City, it continues to pass on the region’s agricultural culture.
Japanese Festivals.jp Editorial Team
Celebrating local culture and helping you discover a side of Japan you never knew.
Article updated: 2026/10/19
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