F E S T I V A L ／ FEST-226

Omiyuki-san (Great Divine Procession of Kai Ichinomiya Asama Shrine)

甲斐国一宮浅間神社 大神幸祭（おみゆきさん）かいのくにいちのみやあさまじんじゃ おおみゆきさい（おみゆきさん）

Held every April 15, the grand festival of Kai Ichinomiya Asama Shrine—popularly called "Omiyuki-san"—is defined by one extraordinary sight: the male mikoshi (portable shrine) bearers march roughly 25 kilometers across the Kofu Basin dressed as women, wearing flowered nagajuban under-kimono and flower hats with white powder makeup on their faces. The custom is said to honor the enshrined goddess Konohanasakuya-hime: the men cross-dress so that the female deity will not grow jealous of them. Three shrines' mikoshi converge at Sansha Shrine on the bank of the Kamanashi River, where bearers shake the palanquins violently to chants of "Sokodai." The festival culminates in a flood-prevention rite in which small stones inscribed with the words "water deity" are hurled from the Shingen embankment into the river. Tracing its origins to devastating Heian-period floods and later tied to warlord Takeda Shingen's river-control policy, the rite is said to carry roughly 1,200 years of history. It is designated an Intangible Folk Cultural Property by Yamanashi Prefecture.