うわじま牛鬼まつり · Festival · Uwajima, Ehime
Uwajima Ushi-oni Festival
Three days in July when twenty-odd ushi-oni from the districts of Uwajima parade through the streets and the portable shrine runs into the river.
Quick Facts
- Type
- Festival
- Prefecture
- Ehime · Uwajima
- When
- 22 to 24 July every year
- Where
- Warei Shrine and the city streets, Uwajima
- Nearest station
- Uwajima Station (JR Yosan Line)
- From the station
- The parades pass through the streets between the station and Warei Shrine
- English signage
- none
- Opening hours and admission
- See the official site (external link) · information checked on 2026-11-03
Hours, admission and closing days change, and this site does not list them. The link goes to the place's own page, with the date we last checked it.
What is there
The festival runs from 22 to 24 July every year and has done since 1967, when the city joined its summer events to the great festival of Warei Shrine. Ushi-oni from each district of the city, some five metres long and carried by dozens of bearers, parade through the streets, swinging their heads into shops and houses; a street dance fills the evening, fireworks are shot over the bay, and on the last night the portable shrine of Warei Shrine is carried at a run into the Suka river while the ushi-oni wait on the bank. The streets between the station and the shrine are the route.Why here
The ushi-oni carried ahead of a portable shrine was recorded in Uwajima in 1784, and the festival creature of today is its direct descendant: a guardian that clears the road rather than a monster that eats fishermen. The article on the ushi-oni follows both lines of the name.Yokai you will meet
- Ushi-oni 牛鬼 — Twenty-odd ushi-oni in the streets and the run of the portable shrine into the river on the last night.
Getting there
Uwajima Station (JR Yosan Line). The parades pass through the streets between the station and Warei Shrine.
Sources and further reading
- Reliable secondary Uwajima Ushi-oni Festival (external link) Uwajima Ushi-oni Festival Executive Committee Official festival site: the three days of 22 to 24 July, the parades and the run into the river.
- Reliable secondary Uwajima City Tourism and Products Association (external link) Uwajima City Tourism and Products Association Visitor information for the shrine and the festival.
- Database Uwajima Ushi-oni Matsuri (うわじま牛鬼まつり) (external link) Wikipedia (Japanese) The festival since 1967, joined to the Warei Shrine festival; its programme and its ushi-oni.
Other places with these yokai
- Warei Shrine 和霊神社 Shrine or temple
Other places in Ehime
- Warei Shrine 和霊神社 Shrine or temple