Fox's Wedding - Rice Ear Festival

The "Fox's Wedding" is a sacred ceremony with its origins dating back to the first Rice Ear Festival in the autumn of 1950, during the 25th year of the Showa era. Since then, this ritual has been faithfully observed year after year.

As part of the festival, a procession of participants donning fox masks gracefully advances along the old road leading to Hanaoka Station. The central figures in this grand spectacle are the bride and groom, both depicted as white foxes. They ride side by side in a rickshaw, with family members and attendants following closely behind, dressed in elegant kimono attire adorned with family crests.

This tradition is deeply rooted in the legend of the "Fukutoku Inari", two benevolent white fox spirits. They once aided an abbot finding his lost prayer beads, and as a gesture of gratitude, their remains were respectfully interred and treated with the same reverence as those of humans within the precincts of Hojoji Temple. It is believed that these fox spirits continue to safeguard the temple and the village from misfortune, and participating in this procession is thought to bring blessings, particularly in the form of favourable marriages, making it especially popular among young, unmarried individuals.