Blue Demon Festival

This is the festival to commemorate the virtue of Rocho Risshi, a leading scholar monk of Ishiyamadera Temple.
Ishiyamadera Temple, also known as an academic temple, has passed down a mass of sutras and scriptures including Ishiyamadera Issai-kyo and Ishiyamadera Azekura Shogyo to the present day. Rocho Risshi was one of the people that exerted themselves to collect, maintain and preserve those sutras. It is said that after his death, he turned into a demon to protect those sutras and pledged to conquer other demons and to bring good luck.
On the festival day, a five-meter-high statue of a blue demon made of Japanese cedar leaves is raised in front of the Higashi Daimon Gate to greet visitors. Blue demon drum and blue demon dancing are performed as an offering.