Ninno-e Ceremony

The Ninno-e ceremony takes place at the Kondo, the main hall, on the 8th of the New Year.
It started taking place in 559 and was actively held during the Heian Period [between the late 8th and 12th centuries]. The ceremony involved praying for prevention from natural disasters, and achieving world peace, abundance and happiness for everyone by reciting Ninno-kyo sutra [the Humane King Sutra], one of the three sutras for the protection of the nation.
According to The Record of Onjoji Temple, the Hyakuza Ninno-ko ceremony was conducted at Miidera Temple in 1039. The ceremony was revived in the current form when the current Kondo was rebuilt and a hundred Ninno-kyo sutras were donated in 1602.
At the front of the hall, a wide portrait called Godairiki-ku or Godairiki-son is hung. In the portrait, five figures of Bodhisattva, the principal image of Ninno-e, with furious expression are drawn in five places. Monks go around the hall with a bunch of Japanese star anises, chanting Buddhist hymns to pray for world peace.