The prayers of Chigawara, carried on through bitter-cold water rituals and ohyakudo-mairi
Yaya Festival
Festival information
EVENT INFORMATION- Season / frequency
- Mid-January / Every year
- Location
- Chigawara Hachiman Shrine
- Area
- Yamagata Prefecture・Shonai Town(From Tokyo: approx. 2 h 30 min–3 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.
- Features
- Highlights and activities
- Wishes behind the festival
- Last updated
- 2026/10/20
This traditional event in Chigawara features boys wearing kendai receiving cold water in the bitter cold and high school students making repeated rounds between the shrine and its gate to pray, sometimes with snow falling.
About Yaya Festival
The Yaya Festival is a naked festival handed down at Hachiman Shrine in the Chigawara district of Shonai Town, Yamagata Prefecture.
Boys from the district wear kendai, straw-made waist coverings, and bathe in cold water in the bitter winter cold.
Known as a Koshogatsu event for praying for safe childbirth and good health, it is a tradition that brings the local shrine and the boys together.
Visitors watch the boys taking part in the sacred rites in the .
Source: やや祭り | 東田川郡庄内町 | 子供とお出かけ情報「いこーよ」
Festival highlights
The main highlight is the purification ritual, in which boys wearing kendai bathe in cold water.
A boy stands in the center of the stage with both hands raised above his head as an adult dressed in white pours water from a wooden bucket over both his shoulders.
The event takes place in severe cold, sometimes with snow falling, and spectators applaud the boys as they perform.
The high school students’ ohyakudo-mairi, or 100-round prayer, which follows the misogi, is another distinctive part of the festival.
Source: やや祭り - Wikipedia
The prayers of Chigawara, carried on through bitter-cold water rituals and ohyakudo-mairi
What to expect
The festival begins with a misogi purification ritual performed by boys aged 5 to 15.
The boys hold their posture in the center of the stage as adults dressed in white pour cold water over them.
Afterward, high school students perform ohyakudo-mairi, making repeated rounds between the shrine’s main hall and its torii gate, to pray for prosperity of descendants.
Visitors watch the sequence of events: misogi, in which boys bathe in cold water, followed by ohyakudo-mairi, or repeated rounds of prayer.
Location and access
- Venue and address
Chikagawa Hachiman Shrine / 359-1 Maeno, Chikagawa, Shonai Town, Higashitagawa District, Yamagata Prefecture
- By car
15 minutes by car from JR Amarume Station
- Parking
None
Source: ややまつり / 山形県 -【JAPAN 47 GO】 / ややまつり｜イベント｜やまがた庄内観光サイト - 山形県庄内エリアの観光・旅行情報
Address 359-1 Maeno, Chikagawa, Shonai Town, Higashitagawa District, Yamagata Prefecture
Dates and season
- Season
Mid-January
- 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 Yamagata Prefecture / Shonai Town (the search is not centered on the festival venue)
Tips for your visit
In mid-January, during the bitter cold, boys take part in a ritual by dousing themselves with cold water.
Visitors should dress for the winter cold.
There is no parking near the venue.
Nearby attractions
月山神社
山形県の月山山頂にある神社
写真：ChiefHira / CC BY-SA 3.0(resized and reformatted)
Photo source ·
月山
山形県にある火山
写真：Jun K / CC BY-SA 2.0(resized and reformatted)
Photo source ·Origins and History of Yaya Festival
The festival’s origins are linked to a legend that villagers sheltered Ōyamamori no Mikoto after he fled to Chigawara.
It is said that because Ōyamamori no Mikoto left words praying for safe childbirth, Chigawara’s Hachiman Shrine came to enshrine a deity of safe childbirth and prosperity of descendants.
The Yaya Festival is said to have begun when young men from the village offered misogi and ohyakudo-mairi prayers.
The festival was suspended during the war, but revived after the war, and the boys took over as its main participants.
Official information
The official website of the Shonai Town Tourism Association is listed as a link to official information.
The 2026 event information provided basic details about the venue, start time, transportation, and parking.
Event details may change due to weather or circumstances on the organizers’ side.
Yaya Festival at a Glance
The Yaya Festival is a Koshogatsu naked festival handed down at Hachiman Shrine in Chigawara, Shonai Town.
Boys wearing kendai bathe in cold water as part of the misogi purification ritual, followed by the high school students’ ohyakudo-mairi, or 100-round prayer, to pray for safe childbirth and good health.
In 2026, it was held at Chigawara Hachiman Shrine from 1 p.m. on January 18 (Sunday).
General visitors watch the sacred rites in the bitter cold as spectators.
Japanese Festivals.jp Editorial Team
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Article updated: 2026/10/20
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