About This Video
Located in Osio in Kanagawa prefecture, Oiso No Sagicho is a 400 year old Matsuri (festival) celebrating a guardian deity for travelers called a Dosojin as well as being known as Oiso or ‘Little New Year’. The festival takes place at night however, during the day men erect cone-shaped bonfire structures along Oiso beach called Saito which are made of bamboo, pine, used New Year decorations and Daruma. Around 7 pm, the Saito are lit and people pray for good health throughout the coming year. It’s also customary to roast “Dango” (glutinous rice balls) also in hopes of good health for the upcoming year.
Finally, in front of each Saito is held an unusual ritual called Yanna-gokko is held, where men divided into teams play some sort of tug-of-war with the temporary shrine of the deity Seinokamisan sunk in the ocean.
