Overview
- At World Heritage Kumano Nachi Taisha in Wakayama, the giant zodiac ema was changed from Snake to Horse, continuing a widely observed New Year custom.
- The new board was painted by the shrine’s chief priest and measures roughly 3 by 4 meters, featuring a rearing white horse and the first sunrise over Nachi Falls.
- The replacement took place on December 15, drawing visitors who photographed the early unveiling of the coming year’s animal.
- In Osaka’s Shinsekai district on December 26, Tsutenkaku held its annual handover ceremony with a corn snake about 90 centimeters long meeting a popular pony for a symbolic baton pass.
- Hanshin Racecourse manager Yoshitaka Tomoda delivered a zodiac-themed line about charging into the Year of the Horse, and Tsutenkaku Kanko’s chairman added puns as organizers highlighted a tradition dating to 1956.