Visit Nara

This street festival takes place every year on August 2 and 3, turning the quaint hotspring hamlet of Dorogawa Onsen into a two-day party. Gyoja refer to Shugendo practitioners, and the festival is said to have its origins in honoring En-no-Gyoja, the sect’s founder. Legend says his return to the region after wrongful exile was welcomed with great celebration. The festivities are marked by goofy clown-mask dancing, ogre parades, and a general vibe of summer merriment with revelers strolling about in yukata (light summer robes). The gyoja themselves are out en masse, easily spotted porting the conch shells they use for ceremonies.