Light of Hope

Each month in Gyoda City dozens of locations participate in a floral water font “hanachozu” event by displaying hanachozu at their premises. The event is called the hanachozu week, but you can actually see the floral fonts for two weeks each month. During that period for one night, only three of the locations also have a light-up called Light of Hope. It is generally on the first Saturday of the month. For the Light of Hope event, Oshi Castle is lit up at night and Gyoda Hachiman and Sakitama shrines light up their floral fonts. Lights go on at dusk and stay on until 8 pm (or 8.30 pm when there are no restrictions due to the pandemic). 2022 Dates are as follows: January 15th February 5th (canceled) March 5th (canceled) April 2nd May 7th June 4th July 2nd September 3rd October 1st November 19th December 3rd