Oniyo of Daizenji Tamataregū

photo by STA3816 · CC BY-SA 4.0

photo by STA3816 · CC BY-SA 4.0

The Ōniyo of Daizenji Tamataregū, national intangible cultural heritage since 1994, is counted among the three great fire festivals of Japan and is held every year on the night of 7 January.

The legend behind it goes back to 368, when the minister Fuji no Ōtodo is said to have flushed out at night, with torches, a bandit who was oppressing the local people, and then burned his head: hence the night-time rite with torches that gives the festival its name. The shrine, according to tradition founded around 672 and renamed Daizenji in 814, keeps as a treasure a painting on silk (絹本著色玉垂宮縁起) recognised as an Important Cultural Property. The car park has 100 spaces.

Daizenji Tamataregū is a shrine in Kurume, in Fukuoka (〒830-0073, Kurume-shi Daizenji-machi Miyamoto 1463-1). According to local tradition it was founded around 672, when the monk Antai enshrined the deity there on the ancient site of the Tamataregū; in 814 the building was enlarged and the temple took the name Daizenji. The shrine keeps as a treasure a painting on silk, the 絹本著色玉垂宮縁起, recognised as an Important Cultural Property. Every year it hosts the Ōniyo, a night-time torch rite that the Japanese government designated an Important Intangible Cultural Property in 1994 and that is counted among the three great fire festivals of Japan.

ℹ️ The Ōniyo rite is held every year on the night of 7 January, from 13:00 until after 23:00 (tamataregu.or.jp/oniyo: ‘毎年一月七日の夜に行う追儺の祭事’). The shrine car park has 100 spaces (welcome-kurume.com). No admission fee is stated.

🚉 Daizenji · 11 min walk

Sources: tamataregu.or.jp · welcome-kurume.com · jalan.net · jalan.net

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