Day1 14:00 | Prepare the Festival with Local Residents

The banners used in the Kohata Banner Festival are made by hand each year by local residents. You will join members of the local dosha, the neighborhood groups that prepare and carry the festival forward, and help with the banners and bamboo poles.

You may sew together long pieces of colorful fabric, carry freshly cut bamboo from the nearby mountain, or wrap straw around the poles. The work varies depending on what still needs to be done that year, and local residents will guide you through each step.

You may feel a little unsure at first, but conversation begins naturally as everyone works side by side. The next day, you will see the banners you helped prepare moving through the winter landscape. That is part of what makes joining from the day before so meaningful.

17:00 | Mizugori, a Winter Purification Ritual

On the evening before the festival, male guests who wish to join may take part in mizugori, a traditional ritual using cold water to purify the body and mind before prayer. Participants change into a fundoshi, a traditional Japanese loincloth, and prepare for the ritual together.

Local residents will show you how to wear the fundoshi, so no previous experience is needed. Everyone then warms up together, moving their bodies and calling out in unison.

When the group is ready, participants shout “Ei-sa! Ei-sa!” and pour buckets of cold water over themselves at the same time. Temperatures at this time of year are often around 2–3°C (35–37°F) and may fall below freezing. It is, quite honestly, very cold. But the sense of relief and togetherness afterward is something participants share as a group.

Taking part in mizugori is completely optional and is currently open to male participants only. Female guests are welcome to observe. Anyone with concerns about their health should watch rather than participate.

19:00 | Naorai with the Community

After mizugori, you will join members of the local dosha, the same community group you worked with during the festival preparations, for naorai. Naorai is a traditional gathering held after a sacred ritual, when people come together to share food and drinks. Around the table, you will enjoy home-style dishes prepared by the community, along with local sake from Fukushima.

During the preparations, there may not have been much time for conversation. Once everyone sits down together, however, stories begin to flow naturally. You may talk about the festival, life in the countryside, work, family, or simply share a laugh. Even if you felt a little nervous at first, you may soon find yourself becoming part of the gathering.

Here, KANPAI is more than a toast. It marks the moment when the people you worked beside begin to feel less like strangers and more like friends around the same table.

Sake is generously shared during the evening, but drinking alcohol is entirely optional. Non-drinkers are equally welcome. What matters is not how much you drink, but the time you share with the people of Kohata.

21:00 | Overnight at a Local Farmstay

After the naorai gathering, you will travel to a small farmstay in the Kohata district for the night.

This is not a full-service hotel or ryokan. It is a simple, family-run place to stay, closely connected to everyday life in the community. Guests stay in shared rooms separated by gender. Take time to look back on the day with your fellow travelers, or continue the conversation with your hosts over one more drink.

By preparing for the festival, sharing the same table, and sleeping in the community, you will experience a side of rural Japan that cannot be found through sightseeing alone. It is a quiet night spent, for a short while, as part of life in Kohata.

Day 2　8:00 | The Festival Begins

After breakfast, you will change into the same white festival clothing worn by the local participants and rejoin the members of the dosha you helped the day before. At the departure ceremony, the festival leader and the shrine’s chief priest offer their greetings. Then, the sound of a horagai conch shell signals that the festival is about to begin.

Before setting out, participants may be offered omiki, sacred sake that has been presented to the deities. You may be invited to drink more than once, even in the morning, but drinking alcohol is entirely optional. If you choose to drink, please enjoy it at your own pace.

The conch shell sounds, the drums begin to echo, and the colorful banners start moving together. This time, you are not watching from the side. Wearing the same festival clothing as the people you worked with the day before, you will join them in the procession.

Carry the Banners with the Community to Mount Kohata

The procession makes its way toward Okitsushima Shrine on Mount Kohata, passing Hayama Shrine along the way. The route is approximately 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) and includes paved roads, slopes, and mountain paths.

Each large banner weighs approximately 10 to 15 kilograms (22 to 33 pounds), but you will not carry it for the entire route by yourself. Members of the dosha work together, calling out to one another and taking turns. When you feel tired, you can pass the banner to the person beside you and take a break. Please participate at a pace that suits your fitness level.

The sounds of conch shells and drums echo through the mountain valley as colorful banners move against the winter sky. Walking in the same clothing and carrying the same banners as the people you prepared with the day before creates a sense of belonging that cannot be experienced by simply watching the festival.

Observe Tainai Kuguri, a Local Coming-of-Age Ritual

Along the procession route, shortly before reaching Hayama Shrine, a traditional coming-of-age ritual called tainai kuguri takes place.

Young local men joining the festival for the first time that year are known as gondachi. They wear special clothing prepared by their mothers or other family members. After taking part in a traditional exchange of words before the rocks, they pass through a narrow opening between them and are formally recognized as adult members of the community.

You will observe this local ritual from nearby. Guests do not take part in tainai kuguri. It offers a rare opportunity to see how the festival serves not only as a religious celebration, but also as a place where local traditions are passed from one generation to the next.

Arrive at Okitsushima Shrine and Join the Banzai Cheers

The banner procession arrives at Okitsushima Shrine on Mount Kohata. Colorful banners fill the shrine grounds, and everyone celebrates the safe completion of the procession with banzai sansho, raising their arms and calling “Banzai!” three times together.

The journey began with making banners the day before, followed by mizugori in the winter cold, naorai around a shared table, and an approximately 5-kilometer walk carrying the banners. It is not an easy experience from beginning to end, but that is what makes arriving at the shrine feel so rewarding.

After spending two days together, the local people are no longer simply the hosts who introduced you to their festival. They are the people who walked beside you, carried the same banners, and worked with you to bring the festival to life.

13:00 | A Final Naorai with the Community

After the festival, you will gather once more with members of the dosha for a final naorai meal.

The people you may have spoken with a little nervously the night before will now feel much more familiar. After preparing the banners, sharing the mizugori tradition, and walking the mountain route together, everyone can relax around the table and look back on the festival over food and drinks.

This final KANPAI is more than a toast to the end of the festival. It celebrates the time you shared and the connections formed over two days. As local residents say, “Thank you for joining us” and “Come back again next year,” the journey comes to a close. The next time you visit Kohata, it may no longer feel like a place you are visiting for the first time.