Ōi Shrine and the Shimada Ōbi Matsuri

photo by Saigen Jiro · CC0

Every 3 years a procession carries brides' obi threaded onto swords, as if they were blades.

The shrine venerates the spirit of the Ōi River and, once every three years, holds the Ōbi Matsuri: a long procession in Edo costume in which young men (大奴) carry, slung crosswise like swords, the obi of the brides of the past three years. It is counted among the ‘three most eccentric festivals in Japan’ (日本三奇祭) together with those of Nagano and Yonezawa, and has over 330 years of history.

The festival falls in the years of the Tiger, Snake, Monkey and Boar in the twelve-animal calendar (so not every three years at regular intervals by the solar calendar, but following this cycle), in mid-October. The last edition, the 111th, was held on 11–13 October 2025; the next falls in 2028.

ℹ️ The shrine is always open; the office (社務所) is staffed 8:30–17:00. Five minutes on foot from Shimada Station. The festival itself is a triennial event, not an annual one: do not expect it outside that year.

🚉 Shimada · 7 min walk

Sources: city.shimada.shizuoka.jp · ja.wikipedia.org · toretabi.jp

All series · Open the map