Oji Fox Parade (Kitsune no Gyoretsu) 王子狐の行列

Note: The 2024 installment of this event has already taken place.

According to old legends, on New Year's Eve, foxes from all over the Kanto region gathered in Oji underneath a large hackberry tree. After donning costumes, the foxes then proceeded to Oji Inari Shrine at the start of the new year. Shozoku Inari Shrine is dedicated beside the tree where the foxes are said to have put on their costumes.
The legend is depicted in Utagawa Hiroshige's ukiyo-e print "New Year's Eve Foxfires at the Changing Tree, Oji."
The Oji Fox Parade, which began in 1993, recreates the scene from that woodblock print.
At night on New Year's Eve, roughly 300 participants wearing traditional Japanese clothing and fox masks walk from Shozoku Inari Shrine to Oji Inari Shrine, carrying yellow paper lanterns that represent the “foxfire.”
Shozoku Inari Shrine offers a special New Year's Eve shrine stamp, and nearby shops sell fox masks.