Mozu Hachiman Shrine Autumn Festival

Located in Osaka prefecture’s Sakai city – just a short train ride away from central Osaka – Mozu Hachiman Shrine’s annual autumn festival takes place around the 15th day of the eighth month in the lunar calendar. For this reason, it’s also known as the Moon-viewing Festival, or Tsukimi Matsuri. This year, the festival falls on Monday October 6.

The main festivities take place over the weekend of October 4–5, centered around the shrine’s iconic Futon Daiko. This traditional portable float features a large taiko drum set on an ornate base with intricate carvings, topped by five red cushion-like tiers resembling futons, hence the name Futon Daiko. Standing about 4 metres tall and weighing roughly 2 tons, each float is carried by a team of 60 to 70 people.

On Saturday October 4, the floats will make their way into the shrine grounds one by one, in hourly intervals from 11am until 10.30pm. 

On Sunday October 5, each float will parade on the shrine grounds for about an hour between 9am and 10pm. In between, from 11am to 11.30am, you can witness a Shinto ritual where children release young fish into the shrine’s Hojo Pond as a prayer for the prosperity of all living creatures.

Finally, on Monday October 6, the day of the full harvest moon, the shrine will host a formal Shinto ceremony, which includes a ritual visit by an imperial envoy from Iwashimizu Hachimangu Shrine.