History of the Inukko Festival

 

The Inukko Festival is a traditional folk event from the Yuzawa region that has continued for approximately 400 years, dating back to the Genna era.

In those times, there was a notorious bandit known as "Hakuto" who would brazenly attack homes during the day. To prevent such villains from appearing again, the lord of Yuzawa defeated this gang and began the tradition of making small figures of dogs and cranes from rice flour. On the night of the old small New Year (Koshogatsu), these figures were offered at the entrances and windows of homes to ward off evil and pray for protection. This is said to be the origin of the Inukko Festival, though there are various theories.

As evening approached, children would place the dog figures, along with rice cakes and sweet sake, in small snow shrines built at their gate and play late into the night. This was a seasonal event similar to a winter Halloween.

During the Showa era, despite food shortages after the war, snow crafts became a popular treat for children in winter. At that time, there were also candy crafts in addition to the snow figures. Snow shrines, known as "odoko," were traditionally made in front of homes, but as the economy grew, these snow structures became larger for tourism purposes, leading to the current form of the festival.

In recent years, the festival has evolved into a new celebration focused on the Akita dog boom and the worship of beloved pets.