Yonekawa no Mizukaburi Festival

Every February in Tome, men from the Itsukamachi neighborhood dress in straw costumes, cover their faces in soot from a communal cookstove, and parade through the Yonekawa area shouting and throwing water on buildings to protect them from fire. The ritual, known as Mizukaburi, has been carried on since at least the mid-18th century and was inscribed on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2018. As the procession moves, spectators pull straws from the men's costumes to use as fire-protection talismans at home. By the end, the costumes are in shreds. Two masked characters, Hyottoko and Okame, follow the procession collecting festival donations.