Clashes and Commotion: Battle-Themed Festivals in Japan

Male and female Dōsojin dolls are set up to pray for a good marriage and to be blessed with children. (© Haga Library)

The newly completed shaden is blessed by a Shintō priest. (© Haga Library)

Sparks fly during the relentless assault on the shaden. (© Haga Library)

The shaden, along with the wooden lanterns, is engulfed in flames. (© Haga Library)

The 833 rice balls prepared for the festival are said to represent the number of warriors killed in a medieval battle. (© Haga Library)

Entering the shrine carrying a large torch. (© Haga Library)

Younger participants use sakaki leaves to brush away the sparks from torches hurled against the railing by older residents. (© Haga Library)

The festival mikoshi is paraded around the city throughout the day. (© Haga Library)

As the mikoshi are carried around the shrine grounds, a daiba wearing a demon’s mask swats people with a bamboo clatter stick to confer good health. (© Haga Library)

The group of younger men, cheered on by their children, charge the gate, seeking to enter the shrine grounds. (© Haga Library)

The mikoshi and those riding it come crashing to the ground during the tussle between teams of younger and older residents. (© Haga Library)