April

During the procession of the portable shrines, which travels around the 11 temporary shrine sites, demons dressed as parishioners and portable shrines carried by elementary school students parade through the area. At the temporary shrine sites, a Shinto ritual is performed along with a Shishimai (Lion Dance) by the parishioners’ youth association. Children’s sumo matches are also held on the shrine grounds as a prayer for the healthy growth of children.

About 500 Yoshino cherry trees are planted along the Reizan Forest Road, primarily around Reizanji Temple. These trees tend to bloom later than other cherries in the Iga area. The Cherry Blossom Festival is held in mid-April when they are in full bloom.

This Shishimai (Lion Dance) is performed ceremonially at the annual festival held at Aekuni Shrine and is said to be the prototype for Shishi Kagura dance performed at events throughout Iga. Its origins are unknown, but it is said to have been performed for the gods as a Shinto ritual during the Edo Period (1603-1867), gradually evolving into a lion that exorcises demons and wards off evil spirits as it visits the residences of the shrine's parishioners.

As part of the Iga City Canola Flower Project, an event is held at Iga no Kuni Oyamada Hot Spring Resort Sarubino where visitors can see, eat, and enjoy canola flowers. During this fair, visitors to Oyamada Hot Spring Resort Sarubino can enjoy a variety of limited-time-only canola flower-related menu items.

Oka Hachimangu Shrine was built in Shirakashi by Minamoto no Yoritomo as the first shrine in his plan to establish branches of Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine throughout the country. Yabusame (horseback archery) is held every year on Sundays around the 15th of April on the shrine grounds.

This dance is part of the festivities during the spring festival of Hioki Shrine and is one of the Kanko Odori dances performed throughout the prefecture. Said to be of high academic value for conveying Taiko dance in the Iga region, which is descended from the late medieval style of Furyu dance, the succession of Jin-Yaku dance shows its emergence and establishment as a performing art.

Once a Shinto ritual of Hiakari Shrine in the Ōe area, this ritual was performed ceremonially during the summer festival every year since the Kan-ei Era (1624-1645). Since Hiakari Shrine merged with Yabuta Shrine, the ritual has been a part of the spring festival held on April 20 at Yabuta Shrine. In this ritual, which serves as a prayer for rain and bountiful harvests, dancers wear the tail of a mountain bird on their heads and an ornament called ochizui on their backs as they dance with Kanko drums hanging off of them.

The spring festival is said to have started in the Taisho Era (1912-1926) as a prayer for bountiful harvests and to stop the spread of epidemics. The Yoimiya Festival is held on the 24th and the Spring Festival on the 25th, with events scheduled on the shrine grounds. A ritual dance known as Toyosaka no Mai is also performed by local elementary school students.