Ikazuchi no Daihannya Festival

Ikazuchi no Daihannya Festival
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Tokyo, Japan – Participants dressed in women’s kimonos and wearing makeup run from house to house to chase away evil spirits in the Ikazuchi no Daihannya festival on February 22, 2015. Festival volunteers carry 6 containers from the Shinzoin Temple around the neighborhood to chase away evil spirits. (Photo by Rodrigo Reyes Marin/AFLO)

Ikazuchi no Daihannya Festival
(Click on the image above to view the full gallery)

Tokyo, Japan – Participants dressed in women’s kimonos and wearing makeup run from house to house to chase away evil spirits in the Ikazuchi no Daihannya festival on February 22, 2015. The festival origins are uncertain; one legend tells of an Edo era priest from Shinzoin Temple visiting house by house to chase away evil spirits when cholera was rife in Tokyo, and another legend describes a man dressed in a women’s kimono to drive away evils spirits from his sister who was suffering from tuberculosis. (Photo by Rodrigo Reyes Marin/AFLO)