5 events and festivals
Major Annual Festival
Kasama Inari's major annual festival is held on April 9, the shrine's legendary founding day. On that day, ritual offerings of incense ceremony and tea ceremony are made at the Hall of Worship, together with offerings of famous rice wines (sake) from more than seventy breweries located in Ibaraki Prefecture. Within the shrine precincts, exhibitions of flower arranging (ikebana) are presented by various Ohararyu, while outdoor tea ceremonies are performed by members of the Edo Senke, Omote Senke and Ura Senke schools of tea.
Sansanku Tebasami Ritual
In addition, the Ogasawara school also performs the sansanku tebasami ritual on the day of the autumnal equinox (September 23).
Yabusame
This ceremonial form of equine archery is observed as a form of divination for the year's harvest - a subject with strong associations to the deity Inari. Each November 3, members of the Ogasawara school of mounted archery perform the rite at a special archery facility in accordance with ancient precedent ; the observance is one of the three major performance of yabusame in the Kanto Plain region. In addition, the Ogasawara school also performs the sansanku tebasami ritual on the day of the autumnal equinox (September 23).
Niinamesai and Offering of Firstfruits
Each November 23, thanks are given in this festival for the abundant harvest and success in other productive endeavors. Specially consecrated offerings are presented to the kami at this time, together with first fruits of harvest and sericulture, and prayers are offered for future blessings.
Chrysanthemum Festival
Begun in 1890, Kasama Inari's Chrysanthemum Festival is Japan's oldest. In 1908, shrine gardens were established as a place for the exhibition of chrysanthemum flowers, thereby providing parishioners with a calming atmosphere, and stimulating their sense of closeness to the earth ; since that time, the shrine's Chrysanthemum Festival has grown larger each year. In 1948, an exhibition of "chrysanthemum mannequins" - human figures formed from chrysanthemum blooms - was added ; the festival is now known as one of Japan's representative flower celebrations, drawing some 600,000 visitors from throughout the nation.
