On September 15, 2026, the Iwashimizu Festival—the most important festival of Iwashimizu Hachimangu Shrine in Yawata City, Kyoto Prefecture—was held. In the morning, a "Hojo" (ritual release of living creatures) ceremony took place at a river at the foot of the mountain; children released fish and performed an elegant dance to pray for peace.
The Iwashimizu Festival is said to have originated in 863. It involves the dispatch of an imperial messenger and is counted among the "Three Great Imperial Festivals," alongside the Aoi Festival in Kyoto and the Kasuga Festival in Nara.
Shinto rituals began in the early hours of September 15. During the Hojo ceremony at 8:30 a.m., four children wearing vibrant feather ornaments on their backs released eels and loaches from tubs into the river, then performed the "Kochō no Mai" (Butterfly Dance) to the accompaniment of *gagaku* (court music). They danced in a circle atop the arched Angoi-bashi Bridge, a scene captured by many onlookers with their cameras.
