Katsube Shrine near JR Moriyama Station holds an impressive fire festival on the second Sat. of January. They light giant torches for the festival's climax. According to one legend, 800 years ago during the Kamakura Period, Emperor Tsuchimikado (土御門天皇) fell ill and a fortune-teller said that a monster dragon-serpent (orochi) living in a marsh in present-day Moriyama was to blame. When the dragon was finally slain and burned by hunters sent by the Emperor, the body fell on Katsube Shrine and the head fell on Sumiyoshi Shrine. The young men danced wildly around the burning dragon and the Emperor recovered. That's how the festival supposedly started. Unfortunately, you cannot see the festival at both shrines since they are held around the same time. Katsube Shrine's fire festival is bigger with more torches, twelve of them. Also see my video at YouTube. More about Moriyama here. MAP

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Every Jan., both this shrine and Katsube Shrine light giant torches for the festival's climax. Unfortunately, you cannot see the festival at both shrines since they are held around the same time. Sumiyoshi Shrine's fire festival is smaller with fewer (six) torches which represent the head of the slain dragon. MAP

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Held every May 5 at Shimoniikawa Shrine, an unusual festival with two young lads cutting funa-zushi fermented fish (crucian carp native to Lake Biwa) as an offering. The festival prays for abundant harvests and good health. The naginata dance has been inscribed as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2022 as one of Japan's furyu-odori (風流踊) ritual dances. These photos were taken on May 5, 2009. Also see my YouTube video here. MAP

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Held annually on May 5 by Ozu Jinja Shrine, the festival consists of dances and music by children, taiko drumming, a naginata dance and acrobatics by boys using a pole sword, and a roundtrip procession from Ozu Shrine to Ozu Wakamiya Shrine. Also see my YouTube video here. MAP

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Established in 1642, Moriyama-juku was the sixty-seventh of the sixty-nine stations or shukuba post towns on the Nakasendo Road. It is the eighth Nakasendo station in Shiga (following Musa-juku in Omi-Hachiman), and one of ten Nakasendo stations in Shiga. There is very little left. Near JR Moriyama Station on the JR Tokaido/Biwako Line. MAP

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Pictures of other sights in Moriyama, Shiga Prefecture including Nagisa Park full of nanohana rapeseed blossoms, Biwako Ohashi Bridge, and Pieri Moriyama shopping mall.

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