Hadaka-mairi: Silent, Naked Pilgrimage(In-outbound Sendai Matsushima inc.)

Hadaka-mairi began as a practice to pray for improved quality and safety of sake breweries. Take part in this annual traditional ceremony to learn about Japan’s spiritual culture.

Hadaka-mairi (an event in which pilgrims parade through the streets of Sendai to visit a shrine, wearing a cloth around their waist and tabi socks and straw sandals on their feet) is said to have started in the mid-Edo period by toji (a group of sake brewers) who visited a shrine to pray for safe brewing as they began sake making preparations in the intense cold. Even now, thousands of people from all over Sendai make the pilgrimage donning a white headband and white cloth around their waist, holding a piece of “fukumigami” paper in their mouth to refrain from small talk, and holding a bell in their right hand and paper lantern in their left hand. This sight has become a well-known winter event of Sendai, the City of Trees. In this tour, you will visit a sake brewery to which this event traces its roots. For lunch, you will enjoy food and sake pairings. After lunch, you can either choose to participate in hadaka-mairi, or not to participate and help with the preparations, attend a purification ritual at a shrine (a ritual for cleansing the body and soul of evil, such as sins, impurities, and calamities), and have a try at running a shop stall.

General Information

Address
宮城県仙台市青葉区国分町3丁目11-5 日宝勾当台西ビル7階
Prices
1 person: \156,750
2 people: \113,850
3 people: \109,450
4 people: \108,900
5 people: \101,200
Opening Times
9:00am - 6:00pm (Head office)
Closures
Weekends and public holidays; tours closed irregularly
Duration
January 14: 9:00am - 9:30pm 1
Notes
COVID-19 Prevention Measures: Limiting or guiding visitors, providing hand sanitizing equipment, wearing masks, ventilating indoor spaces, performing temperature checks, disinfecting used areas, etc.