Sumiyoshi Matsuri Festival
The Sumiyoshi Matsuri is one of Osaka’s biggest summer festivals. It is held every year from July 30 through August 1. It is popularly known as Oharae, which is a ritual intended to “drive away” or ward off disease and other misfortunes.
Highlights include colorful historical costumes and a parade of portable shrines. The Nagoshi Harae Shinji, or “summer purification ceremony,” is held on July 31. It features a procession of women, children, dancers, and others dressed in costumes from the Muromachi period (1336–1573). The following day, a portable shrine is carried over the steep Sorihashi Bridge, across the Yamato River to Shukuin Shrine in Sakai, and back again.