Keigenji

A temple enshrining Fudo Myo-o, best known for the Hoshi Matsuri (Star Festival) held every winter solstice. The statue is said to have washed ashore at Kitami riverbank during a great Tama River flood in the early Meiji era, after which local residents had it consecrated at Naritasan Shinshoji and enshrined it in the hall. The Star Festival is a purification rite honoring both the star of one's birth year and the star of the current year, inviting fortune and warding off misfortune. Here, visitors write 'Sanada Yukimura' on a pumpkin along with their own name and birth date, offer it at the fire altar, then float it down a nearby river.