On April 10, 2025, the annual Wasabi Festival was held at Ashiu Kumano Gongen Shrine in Ashiu, Miyama-cho, Nantan City, Kyoto Prefecture. The festival is based on a custom in which local residents would abstain from wasabi from New Year's Day until the festival, praying for the safety of bear hunting that took place in winter. After offering wasabi harvested in the forests of Ashiu, the residents enjoyed it pickled in soy sauce, feeling the arrival of spring with its refreshing spiciness.

Attendees enjoyed wasabi leaves pickled in soy sauce and pussy willow chopsticks.

In the mountainous area of ​​Ashiu, where people have made a living by making use of the blessings of the forest, it is said that instead of refraining from using wasabi, they have prayed for the safety of hunting.

Residents use pussy willow chopsticks to pick up wasabi leaves pickled in soy sauce, enjoying the spiciness (Ashiu Kumano Gongen Shrine, Ashiu, Miyama-cho, Nantan City, Kyoto Prefecture)

Since the amount of wild wasabi has decreased due to being eaten by deer, wasabi grown by a local production association in a cedar grove with anti-animal netting is used.

The Wasabi Festival ritual was held in the temple grounds, with sunlight filtering through the trees.

On April 10, about 40 people participated, including local residents and faculty and staff of Kyoto University's Ashiu Research Forest.

After performing a religious service in the shrine grounds, with the sound of the Yura River flowing nearby echoing through the air, the people ate some wasabi leaves and stems that had been prepared the day before and soaked in flavor, using a pussy willow branch to pick them up.

According to Imai Takashi, the ward chief (age 71), wasabi is offered because it grows quickly once the snow melts and is one of the first wild vegetables to be picked.

"Spring is a little late this year, but soon many flowers will bloom and our village will shine brightly," he said, expressing his gratitude for a safe winter.