The seasonal presentation of a giant ‘otafuku’ gate at Kushida Shrine’s entrance in Fukuoka City celebrates its sixtieth year anniversary this year. The smiling face of the Otafuku lady is believed to bring luck to the visitors who walked through her mouth around setsubun (beginning of spring) day in Japan. This year, the gate was erected ten days earlier than usual to avoid congestion. The shrine canceled its setsubun ritual (scheduled on Feb. 2) because of the ongoing state of emergency. Source: TNC / News24
Disclaimer: Fukuoka Now posts summaries of Kyushu area news for those who cannot read Japanese. These are mostly summaries of publicly posted news from the Japanese media. Errors might occur during translation, those are ours. Images are sourced separately and are for illustrative purposes only. Use this form to send feedback. Please share links to this page, it helps us.