The lively Festival, popular event, especially in the Kinki region, Japan.

The other day, I went to the Kinomoto Jizo Grand Festival in 2025. It was held for four days from Friday, August 22nd to Monday, August 25th in the area around Kinomoto Jizo-in Temple in Kinomoto-cho, Nagahama City, Shiga Prefecture.

The festival is said to attract 100,000 visitors every year, enveloping the entire town in a festive atmosphere.

I first visited in the morning at around 10 am, but some of the stalls were preparing to open and there were fewer visitors than I expected.

So, I went back again in the late afternoon, at around 5 pm.

⬆ This is the bronze statue of Buddha (Jizo Bodhisattva), which stands approximately 6 meters tall and is a notable feature of the temple precinct. Built in 1894, it has become a symbol of the temple. 

⬆ These are food stalls preparing to open. From the left, fried chicken, xiao long bao and round bread with a 10-yen coin shape.

 ⬆ When I went back again in the late afternoon, there were many lively stalls along the approach road to the temple. It had been a while since I'd seen "Goldfish scooping game". In fact, most of the stalls were occupied by food stalls, selling yakisoba, grilled beef tongue skewers, apple candy, castella balls, shaved ice, and other foods. 

However, I was interested in the game stalls, such as the goldfish scooping game. Most of them were located around the temple precinct.

⬆ Incidentally this is the stall of mask vendor. Traditional mask vendors sell character masks and masks for festivals.  Popular items include anime characters, game characters and animal masks.

⬆ Goldfish come in a variety of body shapes and colors.

⬆ Children are into catching Goldfishes at a festival stall using a round plastic frame covered with Japanese paper, called a poi. (indicated by a blue arrow)

⬆ It requires skill and patience, as a poi is delicate and can easily tear if the player is too forceful. You can take home the goldfishes you scooped in a polyethylene bag that was injected Oxygen gas. 

⬆ As you can see, a poi has torn. Since this game is fairly difficult for small children, who are the main players, many stalls (stores) will let you take home a few goldfish even if you don't manage to scoop any.

⬆ Target shooting games use cork guns to knock down prizes. Players aim at toys, snacks, or small items displayed on shelves. Since there were a few shooting games stalls near-by, this game may be popular ones.

⬆ This game mimics axe throwing. A player throws a plastic axe at a panel with concentric circle patterns depicted and a high-density matrix of pins on the panel keep the axe securely in place. This is the first time I've seen such a mechanism.

⬆Smart Ball is a nostalgic game from the Showa era (before 1989). Put a white ball into the hole seen at the right side of the game machine, pull the lever and release it to shoot the ball out onto a board. If the ball drops into a hole surrounded by pins and V-shaped fences, many balls will return.

 Other game stalls are ring throw, ball throwing game and scooping super ball, etc.