I was so excited when I saw the dates for the Mihara Daruma Festival and realized I could go! Finally. I have been wanting to go for some time now, but my schedule was just not cooperating. Until this year.
My friend Chie and I decided to take the train to Mihara, which is in Hiroshima Prefecture. It took us a little over two hours to get there and cost 1,940yen each way per person. You can drive and it would cost around 4,000yen round trip in tolls, and it would take about two hours. Sometimes, I like to just hop on a train and not have to worry about parking or traffic though. I’m glad I did too, because traffic was pretty backed up around the festival area.
When we arrived we didn’t immediately see anything that looked like a festival so we asked and were told that there were festivities happening in front of the train station and behind the train station. When coming through the gates that take your tickets, go to your right and that will take you to the back of the train station. I recommend going there first. The main festival area is on a street behind the train station.
The first things we saw were the food tents. Lots and lots of food tents. It smelled really good too! 
While heading to where the really large daruma is, we passed this tent selling green tea and the cutest little tea containers.
Each one came with a small bag of matcha candy. If you don’t drink tea, it can be a candy container.
We continued heading towards the very large daruma that sat above and seemed to be keeping a watchful eye on the festivities. Daruma dolls are something that people purchase in the first part of the year and inscribed with a goal or a wish on the back. The eyes are typically white and one is colored black right away, while the other eye is kept white. The doll is kept in a spot where it can remind the person to stay focused on their goal and keep working towards achieving it. Once the goal or wish has been achieved (typically within a year of purchasing the daruma doll), the other eye is colored in black. There were definitely plenty of daruma dolls for sale throughout the festival area.
The ones I saw ranged in price from 700yen, all the way up to 25,000yen. It’s kind of a cool way to stay on track with a goal and it serves as a cute little reminder.
Now back to the festival!
When we were walking towards the large daruma, we saw a really long line on our left. The sign said it was for “Daruma kuji” in Japanese, which is like a daruma lottery. Each ticket was 100yen and when cut open, it revealed your prize. We decided to get in the really long line and see how lucky we were. The line actually moved pretty quickly and I love how they had someone in charge of letting people know where the end of the line was.
I bought three tickets and I won a cup sake, canned orange juice, and some color pencils. I almost wanted to get back in line because Chie won some daruma cookies and they were so cute! It had grown even longer though so I had to walk away.
We decided to walk down some of the side streets to see if there were any other events going on. There was a small section that had different games for children and a haunted house. Yup. You read that right. A haunted house.
Now, I am not sure how “haunted” this was. I didn’t really hear a whole lot of screaming, but the children did seem to be enjoying it.
There were also these cute things sitting off to the side. People can put them on and take pictures.
We continued to walk around and came across this large bin for people to bring their completed daruma dolls to. Once the second eye is colored in, people take their daruma to festivals like this or to a local Tondo Festival so that it can be burned in a ceremonial bonfire.
As we headed back towards the train station, we noticed this really long line in front of one of the food tents.
I have been to many festivals here since I was little and I have never seen a line this long at a festival food stand before. Ever! Of course we got in line. I couldn’t leave without knowing what was so special about this Taiyaki stand. I also happen to love Taiyaki. It is a fish shaped cake with sweet red bean paste inside. I’ve seen some places that have a variety of fillings, but the red bean is the traditional filling. Oh my gosh….. we stood in line for an hour. I didn’t get any pictures with my big camera because it was just too crowded and I was partially frozen by the time I got up there. I couldn’t feel my toes anymore. The cakes looked so good and smelled even better though. I tasted one and immediately knew why there was such a long line at this one. It was delicious and they really stuffed it with a lot of sweet beans.
We were pretty much done at this point. Sitting on a train for two hours to thaw out sounded really good!
Unfortunately, we had just missed the train and had to wait an hour so we decided to explore the front of the train station.
I am so glad we missed that train! We would have never found these adorable hand painted daruma dolls if we had made it to the train on time.
The gentleman who was selling these was kind enough to explain what makes these Mihara daruma dolls so special. Instead of being round, these are a little bit on the oblong side. They are “longer” so that your wish will come true for a longer time. Both eyes are already added in order to see what’s ahead (in your future), and the headband is to remind you to always do your best.
Because they are hand painted, he told us to take our time and choose the face that we felt best resembled our own faces.
I grabbed one to give as a gift and one for myself.
Not sure if either one of these really resembles my face, but I am so excited that we found these today.
The Daruma Festival in Mihara goes for 3 days every year. This year (2017) the festival started on Friday, 10 February and ends tomorrow, 12 February.
Address for Mihara Station: 〒723-0014 Hiroshima-ken, Mihara-shi, Shiromachi, 1 Chome−1, 広島県三原市城町１丁目１−１
As long as you can get to the station, you will find the festival. If you catch the train, please check to make sure your train goes all the way to Mihara. Otherwise, you will have to switch trains in Hiroshima. Not a big deal, but you might have to wait a little while in between. The 0712 that we took this morning went all the way to Itozaki so we didn’t have to switch. I usually use Hyperdia to check for train schedules.
**We arrived this morning at 0925, and there were already quite a few people walking around so it starts pretty early.
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