Henjoin Temple in Kikuma, Imabari: The Yakuyoke Temple Where the Demons Are Invited In
At almost every temple and shrine in Japan on 3 February, people throw beans and shout the same thing.
Fortune in, demons out.
At one temple in Imabari they shout something else.
Fortune in, demons in too.
Henjoin is in Kikuma, a coastal town in the west of Imabari that has been making roof tiles for around 750 years.
The tiles Kikuma is famous for are onigawara, the ridge-end tiles carved into a demon’s face to guard the building beneath.
A town whose craftsmen have spent seven centuries carving demons is not going to drive them out of the temple once a year.
Why this one is worth the trip
Henjoin is not on the Shimanami Kaido, and it is not a place you pass on the way to somewhere else.
It is about 18 kilometres west of Imabari, in the opposite direction from the bridges, which is worth knowing before you plan the day.
Three things make the detour worthwhile.
The first is the festival on 3 February, where demons are welcomed rather than expelled.
The second is a giant onigawara that sits at the gate on the sea side, so you can see the town’s craft at full size on any ordinary day.
The third is a small piece of etiquette here that almost every visitor gets wrong, including Japanese ones.
That one is explained further down, and it costs nothing to get right.
What the temple is
Henjoin is a Shingon Buddhist temple, and the tradition attached to it is unusually specific.
Kobo Daishi, the founder of the Shingon school, is said to have reached this coast during his journey around Shikoku in his own forty-second year.
Forty-two is the worst of the unlucky years for a Japanese man.
The story is that he carved an image of himself to ward off the misfortune of that year, both for himself and for everyone who would come after him, and enshrined it here.
That image is the temple’s main object of worship, and it is known as Yakuyoke Daishi, the Daishi who wards off misfortune.
So the temple is not a general-purpose temple that also does blessings.
Warding off bad years is the entire reason it exists.
The bow most visitors miss
At an ordinary temple you ring the bell, offer a coin, sound the gong, put your hands together, and that is the end of it.
At Henjoin you then turn around.
Set into the beam above the entrance of the hall, behind and above where you have been standing, there is a mirror.
You face it and put your hands together a second time.
People who pray the usual way never look up, never see the mirror, and leave with the visit only half done.
Nobody stops you, and nothing is written in large letters to warn you.
That is exactly why it is worth knowing before you arrive.
How to pay your respects, in order
Bow once in front of the gate before you enter.
Strike the hanging bell.
Light a candle as an offering.
Put your coin in the offering box.
Sound the gong above the box.
Put your hands together and pray.
Turn around and put your hands together again, facing the mirror.
Walk out through the gate and bow once more.
That is eight steps, which sounds like a lot for a short visit.
The priests here say the same thing about all of it: what matters most is the feeling you bring, not the sequence.
3 February: straw sandals and a demon on a portable shrine
The festival is called Setsubun-e Yakuyoke Taisai, and it falls on 3 February.
The next one is 3 February 2027.
People arriving for it change into straw sandals at the temple gate.
They wear the sandals while they pray, take them off afterwards, and the sandals are burned in the goma fire with the misfortune they have picked up.
At 10:00 and again at 14:00, men and women in their sixty-first year throw rice cakes and beans into the crowd.
This is where the shout about demons comes in, and where visitors who know the standard version notice something is different.
After the throwing, men in their unlucky year carry a portable shrine through the grounds with an enormous demon tile mounted on it.
The temple opens from 9:00 to 20:00 on that one day, and stalls fill the approach.
People come from across Ehime and beyond, so the roads around the temple are busy and the nearby car parks fill early.
If you want the formal ritual
Most visitors simply pray and leave, which is free and possible at any time.
The formal prayer ritual is a separate thing, and the schedule is strict.
From March onwards it is held only at midday on Sundays.
January and February are the intensive season, building up to the festival on 3 February.
The office is open from 9:00 to 16:00, and the fee for the ritual is 5,000 yen.
The temple does not take reservations, because too many people come.
You sign in at the reception desk on the day, give your address, name and year of birth, and receive a wooden goma stick with your details written on it.
The ritual is done as a group rather than one by one, and the sticks are burned in the fire while the sutras are read.
Afterwards you collect a wooden tablet and a charm from the temple office.
The charm is carried for a year, and the tablet is placed somewhere clean and high at home.
Charms are sold on Mondays, Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays from 9:30 to 14:00, temple business permitting.
Some Sundays are given over to other observances, so it is worth a phone call before making a special trip.
Which years count as unlucky
The unlucky years are counted the old way, in which you are one year old at birth, so they land a year earlier than you would expect.
For men the years are 25, 42 and 61.
For women they are 19, 33, 37 and 61.
The year before and the year after each of those is treated as a lead-in and a tail.
Forty-two for men and thirty-three for women are the heavy ones.
The temple posts a chart matching birth years to ages, which saves a lot of arithmetic at the gate.
Pair it with the tile museum
Once you understand why the demons are invited in, the obvious next stop is the museum that explains the tiles.
Kawara-kan sits in a park a short walk from the same station, and covers 750 years of Kikuma tile-making.
The displays include unusual tiles and onigawara from Kikuma and other tile-producing regions, along with the old tools and the stages of making them.
Entry is 210 yen for adults, 100 yen for children, and 100 yen for visitors aged 65 and over.
It opens from 9:00 to 17:00 and closes on Mondays, moving to the following day when a Monday is a public holiday.
There is a workshop next door where you can shape a piece of tile clay yourself, with reception until 15:00.
Between them, the temple and the museum turn a half-day into one coherent story instead of two separate stops.
Getting there from JR Imabari Station
The simplest way is the train.
Take the JR Yosan Line towards Matsuyama and get off at Kikuma Station, then walk about 430 metres to the temple, which takes around five minutes.
Trains on this stretch are not frequent, so check the return time before you set out.
By bus, take the Setouchi Bus Kikuma Line from in front of Imabari Station and get off at the Kikuma stop, which takes about 31 minutes.
By car it is roughly 17 kilometres along Route 196, with 30 spaces in the temple car park.
On a bicycle it is about 18 kilometres and a little over an hour, but this is a national road heading away from the Shimanami Kaido rather than a cycling route, so most riders are better off taking the train.
If you have a rental bicycle for the day, leave it at the station rather than riding out here, and see renting a bicycle in Imabari for where the terminals are.
Open Henjoin Temple in Google Maps
Questions visitors ask
Does it cost anything to visit? No.
The grounds are open and praying is free, and only the formal ritual has a fee.
Do I need to be Buddhist? No.
Following the etiquette respectfully is all that is asked of any visitor.
Is there English signage or an English-speaking priest? Do not count on either.
This is a working local temple rather than a sightseeing temple, which is part of why it is interesting.
When is the quietest time to go? Any time outside January and February.
The trade-off is that the festival is the reason many people come in the first place.
Can I take photographs? Outside, generally yes.
Inside the hall and during the ritual, look for signs and follow what those around you are doing.
What if it rains? The temple is largely outdoors, so the museum makes the better wet-weather half of the pair.
More indoor options are gathered in a rainy day in Imabari.
A half-day plan
Take a late-morning train from Imabari to Kikuma.
Visit the temple first, while you still remember to turn around for the mirror.
Walk over to the tile museum and give it an hour.
Take the train back to Imabari in the afternoon.
Finish at the hot spring by JR Imabari Station, which is a two-minute walk from where the train puts you down.
If the temple is your only fixed plan for the day, the rest of the Imabari side is gathered in the Imabari guide for Shimanami cyclists.
Travelling with a suitcase on a day like this is covered in what to do with your luggage.
Information correct as of August 2026.
Ritual days, opening hours and fees can change, so please check with the temple or the Imabari City website before travelling.
Original article in Japanese: 今治市菊間町「遍照院」正しいお参りの仕方〜愛媛県の厄除
