On 8 November, Fushimi Inari burns more than 100,000 prayer sticks. Most visitors don't know that blacksmiths and casters have called that day the Bellows Festival for centuries, or that in Edo it was the day smiths threw mandarins into the street for children.
鞴祭 fuigo matsuriSunday 8 November 2026Facts checked October 2026
You have walked the torii tunnel at Fushimi Inari, probably early, probably more than once. You know Inari as the god of rice and business, foxes and red gates. There is a third trade that has claimed Inari for a long time: metalworking. Blacksmiths, swordsmiths and foundry workers keep 8 November as the fuigo matsuri (鞴祭), the festival of the bellows, the tool that keeps a forge fire hot enough to work iron.
It's a working trade's holiday, not a tourist festival. That is the trade-off. There's no parade and very little English, and the smaller events don't publish schedules. In return, you see a forge lit with traditional bellows, buy a rice cake sold one day a year, and stand at Fushimi Inari while the fire you came for means something specific.
Why a rice god looks after smiths稲荷と鍛冶 · Inari to kaji
The Encyclopedia of Shinto published by Kokugakuin University states it directly: Fushimi Inari's fire festival on 8 November, the Hitaki-sai (火焚祭), is called the Bellows Festival by blacksmiths and casters who worship Inari. It says the festival commemorates the day a foot bellows came down from the sky. Nagoya City's page on its local festival repeats the same story: the 8th is the day the bellows fell from heaven.
The link to Inari runs through Kyoto. In the legend told in the Noh play Kokaji, the Kyoto swordsmith Sanjō Kokaji Munechika (三条小鍛冶宗近) is ordered to forge a sword for the emperor and has no partner to strike the blade with him. The god of Inari appears and works the hammer with him. The Heibonsha encyclopedia of Japan describes the festival growing out of winter fire rites combined with Inari's worship as a smith god. It started in Kyoto, went to Edo, and from there spread across the country.
The smiths' festival and Fushimi Inari's fire festival are the same day because they grew from the same root.
The mandarinsみかん · mikan
Two Japanese reference works record the part most people remember. The Heibonsha encyclopedia says smiths offered mikan to the bellows and scattered them for the children who gathered. The Mypaedia encyclopedia is more specific: in Edo, on this day, mandarins were thrown into the street for children to pick up.
You may also read in English that this is why the merchant Kinokuniya Bunzaemon raced a ship of mandarins through a storm to Edo. Treat that as a legend on top of a legend. An NHK history programme treated the storm voyage itself as mostly a later invention, since he made his fortune in timber, and we found no solid source linking it to the bellows festival.
Whether anyone still scatters mikan in a city street on 8 November, we couldn't confirm. Where mikan survive today, it's as offerings. In Tomonoura, the port town near Fukuyama, the fuigo matsuri is held on the old calendar in early December, and the tourism association says mikan are offered and eaten to keep off colds.
Where to go on 8 November 202611月8日（日）
This year the 8th is a Sunday, which helps: you won't be the only outsider, but you also won't be in the way of a working day.
The confirmed events run from Osaka to Nagoya on the same day, close enough to combine two of them.
Fushimi Inari: the Hitaki-sai伏見稲荷大社 火焚祭
The shrine's own calendar gives the order of the day. From 13:00 there's a ceremony at the main hall. Then, at the festival ground in the shrine garden, more than 100,000 hitaki-gushi (火焚串), small wooden prayer sticks that worshippers have written wishes on, are burned in fires while priests chant the Ōharae purification prayer. At 18:00 there's kagura by firelight, including the ninjō-mai dance.
This is the entry point: the one event in this piece that English guides do list. Go with the smiths in mind. The fire being burned is the same fire they are honouring at their forges.
Getting there: Inari Station (稲荷駅), JR Nara Line, right outside the shrine. Fushimi-Inari Station (伏見稲荷駅), Keihan Line, 5 minutes' walk east.
When: Sunday 8 November 2026. Main-hall rite 13:00, then the burning. Kagura 18:00.
Reality check: The shrine's page doesn't say how close the public can stand. A Kyoto events site lists it as free to watch. Expect a crowd on a Sunday in autumn.
Osaka: the Bellows Shrine生國魂神社 鞴神社
Inside the grounds of Ikukunitama Shrine (生國魂神社) in Osaka is a small shrine called Fuigo Jinja, literally the Bellows Shrine. On 8 November swordsmiths of the Kinki branch of the All Japan Swordsmith Association light a fire with old-style bellows there and forge tamahagane, the steel used for Japanese swords. Rurubu lists it as free.
At the shrine office, ask what time the forging starts: 今日の鍛錬は何時からですか？ (kyō no tanren wa nanji kara desu ka?)
Getting there: Tanimachi 9-chōme Station (谷町九丁目駅), Osaka Metro Tanimachi Line, about 3 minutes' walk.
When: 8 November. The time is not published anywhere we could find.
Reality check: The shrine's website has no page for it. Call 06-6771-0002 before you go, in Japanese, or ask someone to call for you.
Nagoya: Kanayama Jinja and the one-day rice cake金山神社 ふいご祭
Kanayama Jinja was founded by a smith of Atsuta Jingū founded in the Ōei era (1394–1427) for Kanayamahiko, the god of metal mines. Its main festival of the year is the bellows festival, every 8 November. Nagoya's Atsuta Ward reported the 2024 day: the main rite at 11:00, a lucky draw, tea, and fuigo-mochi (ふいご餅), a rice cake the shrine sells only on that day. Swordsmithing demonstrations here stopped about 30 years ago. They have since come back, but at the summer Kanayama festival, not this one.
At the stall: ふいご餅、ひとつください (fuigo-mochi, hitotsu kudasai).
Getting there: Kanayama Station (金山駅), JR, Meitetsu and Nagoya subway, about 5 minutes' walk. Address: 名古屋市熱田区金山町1-16-19.
When: 8 November. The 11:00 start is from 2024. Check the 2026 time.
Reality check: This is a neighbourhood festival in a residential block. It's small, and the mochi can sell out.
If you're further east or west南宮大社・鞆の浦
Nangū Taisha (南宮大社) in Tarui, Gifu, is regarded as the head shrine of metalworking, and travel and company blogs describe a Kanayama festival there on 8 November with an old blade-forging rite. We couldn't reach the shrine's official page to confirm the date or time, so phone first (0584-22-1225). It's 15–20 minutes' walk from JR Tarui Station (垂井駅).
Tomonoura's version, at Kogarasu Shrine, falls on the first Saturday and Sunday of December, following the old calendar. That's the one to aim for if you are reading this after the 8th.
Place
Date
What you'll see
Confirmed?
Fushimi Inari 伏見稲荷大社
8 Nov, 13:00 / 18:00
Main-hall rite, 100,000+ prayer sticks burned, kagura by firelight
Shrine's official calendar
Fuigo Jinja 鞴神社, Osaka
8 Nov, time unknown
Swordsmiths forging with old bellows
Rurubu listing; phone the shrine
Kanayama Jinja 金山神社, Nagoya
8 Nov, 11:00 in 2024
Rite, lucky draw, one-day fuigo-mochi
Nagoya city report (2024)
Nangū Taisha 南宮大社, Gifu
8 Nov (reported)
Blade-forging rite
Not confirmed; phone
Kogarasu Shrine, Tomonoura
1st Sat–Sun of Dec
Bellows festival, mikan offerings
Tomonoura tourism site
The honest part
The smiths' side of this festival is small and poorly published. Two of the five places above don't post a time, and one is unconfirmed. Phoning is in Japanese. If that's not something you can do, stick to Fushimi Inari and Nagoya.
Don't expect mandarins to rain down. The street scattering is documented for Edo, and we couldn't find it described anywhere as a current practice.
Fushimi Inari on an autumn Sunday afternoon is crowded, fire festival or not. The burning is watched from around the festival ground, and you may see more smoke and backs of heads than flame.
Forging, where it happens, is real work with real sparks. Stand where you're told.
If you only have one day
Nagoya in the morning, Kyoto in the afternoon. It works because the Shinkansen between them is about 35 minutes.
You'll miss the first half-hour at Fushimi Inari. The fire comes after the main-hall rite, so that's the half-hour to lose.
Kanayama Station, walk 5 minutes to Kanayama Jinja.
The rite. Buy fuigo-mochi before it sells out.
JR from Kanayama to Nagoya Station (a few minutes), then the Shinkansen to Kyoto.
JR Nara Line from Kyoto Station to Inari Station.
Fushimi Inari. Find the festival ground for the burning.
Walk up the mountain while it's light, or rest nearby.
Kagura by firelight. If you're tired, this is the part to drop.