F E S T I V A L ／ FEST-032

Ōsaka Self Festival (Seven Shrine Circuit)

大阪 セルフ祭（七宮詣り）おおさかせるふまつり

The "Self Festival" (Serufu Matsuri) is Ōsaka's contribution to the genre of contemporary participatory bizarre festival — a self-organized, cosplay-encouraged, freely improvised circuit of seven central-Ōsaka shrines that began in the 2010s among young urban residents who wanted the experience of a matsuri without the obligation of belonging to the neighborhood groups that organize traditional festivals. Participants arrive in costume (the more theatrical the better), visit the seven designated shrines in sequence, receive stamps at each, and disperse. The theological content is voluntary; the social content is the point. The festival's name — "Self" — reflects its founding principle: you are doing this for yourself, in the most Ōsaka-appropriate possible combination of individual energy and communal movement.