Hayachine Shrine Somin Festival

The annual festival of Hayachine Shrine, a Shinto shrine established in 1969, the festival is held to pray for good health, protection against misfortune, and bountiful harvests. Held while snow still covers the ground, bare-chested men gather at the shrine and struggle valiantly with each other to grab the lucky somin-bukuro bag while travelling down the one kilometer long approach to the shrine. The bag contains 365 tokens branded with the 12 signs of the Chinese zodiac which will grant the owner one year's good luck; those who manage to grasp the bag's mouth at the torii gate at the start of the shrine approach are given one of the tokens.