Hatsu-uma Inari Commerce and Industrial Festival

The festival of hatsu-uma is a festival of the Inari Shrine which is worshipped as a place where the deity of rice plants and rice fields is enshrined.
On the first day of the horse of the Chinese zodiac in February 711, Ukanomitama no Kami, the deity enshrined in Fushimi Inari Shrine, is said to have descended to Mt. Inari in Kyoto. Based on this story, Hatsu-uma (the first horse) festival began to take place on the first horse day of February in Inari Shrines all over the country.
At the shrine of Omori Inari Daimyojin, the tutelary deity of Ishiyamadera Temple, the Hatsu-uma Inari Commerce and Industrial Festival takes place on every 4th Saturday of February, which is slightly later than the original date.
The festival is familiarly known as “Hatsu-uma-san”. Local children participate in the ceremony and pray for a good harvest and prosperous business by carrying a children’s sacred palanquin in the precinct.