It looks like the “Horen Procession,” a festival featuring a procession through Ashiya with a “horen,” a portable shrine adorned with a phoenix, children in traditional festival costumes, and people dressed as historical figures associated with Ashiya and in period attire, will be held from 10:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 25!
Source: Ashiya Shrine official website
↑The procession will reportedly leave Ashiya Shrine at 10:00 a.m., travel past locations including JR Ashiya Station, Miyazuka Park, Ashiya Park, Hanshin Ashiya Station, and Hankyu Ashiyagawa Station, and return to Ashiya Shrine at 2:30 p.m. *In the event of rain, the procession will be postponed until Sunday, March 26.
↑The torii gate at Ashiya Shrine
Ashiya’s Horen Procession was once held as part of the autumn festival and was reportedly such a grand celebration that it became a civic holiday. Although the procession had gone dormant by the late 1970s, trial runs aimed at reviving it began in 2014, and in 2018, it was brought back throughout Ashiya Shrine’s entire parish area!
It was subsequently suspended again due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but this year it will return for the first time in five years!
