The Koryu-ji Ushi-Matsuri (広隆寺牛祭り) celebrates the enshrinement of Matarajin-sama at the Koryu-ji Temple

The festival is traditionally held on the 12th day of the 10th month (which, with the introduction of the Gregorian calendar got changed to October 12th) and during the hour of the ox (1-3 am).

It begins with a procession appearing in the dead of night, with a person representing Matarajin-sama riding a black bull, surrounded by four oni, (all five of whom wear paper masks) several other templeworkers, and an audience surrounding them.

Matarajin-sama starts reading out loud a sutra that's so old, that nobody knows what it says or what its meaning is. It is long and read with deliberate slowness. The surrounding people's goal is to distrub him, and if he loses track, he has to restart from the beginning.

The ceremony ends at the Koryu-ji Temple, where Matarajin-sama takes a seat at a throne with the four oni surrounding him.

Ushi-Matsuri in the 1980's

Ushi-Matsuri is no longer celebrated today, due to difficulties in finding black oxen for the event and possibly due to a lack of interest in the celebration itself.