Teppou Matsuri 2016 (Rifle Shooting Festival)

Although the Chichibu Area hosts a wide variety of festivals throughout the year, the finale of those, the Teppou Matsuri at Iida Hachiman Shrine, is held at the end of the year.

In addition to kabuki performances on the first day and the festival going on all day from 10:00 on the second day, Teppou Matsuri also features all-day offerings of the sacred dance “kagura” in the shrine’s Kagura-den. At around noon, the celebratory dance “sanbaso” is performed above the festival stalls, followed by kabuki performances. In the evening, the proceeding “daimyo gyoretsu” begins, followed by the highlight of the event, “Otachi.” During Otachi, many local hunters gather with their hunting guns and matchlocks, and as they fire blank shots into the air, creating pillars of smoke and fire, two sacred horses gallop up the path to the shrine.