Asahi Oka Park Cherry Blossom Festival

An exhibition and sale of local specialty items to be held at the shrine's collection hall in conjunction with the Yutoku Inari Shrine's Autumn Festival. They are lined with marine products such as kamaboko, nori, and the Ariake Sea mutsugorou, which is pickled in soy sauce and dried, as well as specialty products from Kashima, including the long-established pickle shop Nara. Sake and shochu are available from eight sake breweries in Kashima City, as well as interesting crafts such as backs and wallets woven at Kashima Jintao where you can also tour production demonstrations, and faces used for folk performing arts called "face floating". In addition, there is also a selection of tea from the neighboring city of Ureshino, and croquettes using bamboo crab caught in Tara-cho.

"Otaki" is a ritual on the night of the Autumn Festival, which is also the new festival on December 8, and is performed with gratitude and spirit for the god who rises to the mountain after the autumn harvest, relative to the spring prayer year. A 6m high "mountain" made in front of the main shrine, which is stacked with trees and surrounded by green bamboo, is ignited by the god fire of the shrine that was transferred to the torch. It is said that the disease will be healed and the sins and injuries committed will be exorcised and cleansed if it is hit by the blazing god fire, and many worshipers will visit with the hope of happiness in the coming year. Image courtesy of Yutoku Inari Shrine

Opening ceremony from 11 o'clock, competition start from 12 o'clock. It is a festival where various unique competitions are held using the tidal flats of the Ariake Sea. Among them, "Gatarzan", which competes for the distance to the mudflats, invites the crowd's laughter in the popular competition. Participation is necessary before application. There is a competition that can participate on the day. The parking lot is at Yutoku Inari Shrine. A free shuttle bus runs from the parking lot to the venue.