Photo: Ocdp · CC0
At the Shimekake rite ("Owarai Shinji"), the priest of Hiraoka Shrine leads worshippers in three great "a-ha-ha-ha" laughs and then twenty minutes of collective laughing, to call the sun back at the winter solstice and laugh off the year's troubles.
Why it's unique
It is a Higashiosaka City intangible folk property, a shrine rite in which the act of worship is laughter, held at country.
What you do is not watch it but take part: everyone present laughs, on command, for twenty minutes.
Before you go
From 2026 it moves from 23 December to the third Sunday of December (20 December 2026), and most published material still says the 23rd.
Residents report 3,500-plus attendees in 2025, with a "laughing charm" doubling as entry, so arrive early. Residents describe the last ten minutes as close to a runner's high.
