Festival that tells the coming of spring

For over 300 years, the people of Katsuyama have celebrated the coming of spring with the Sagicho festival.
Wearing traditional women’s red kimono slip, children and adults dance atop the 12 yagura (scaffold towers) that are put up around town, festively performing to the beat of the taiko drum accompanied by shamisen, flute, and gong bells.
The close of Sagicho is celebrated with giant dondoyaki (bonfires), which serve as a prayer toward no fires in the coming year, as well as abundant harvests.
It is believed that a person who has warmed up by the fire and eaten rice cake toasted over it shall suffer no disease and become healthy.