Ashikaga Akutai Matsuri – The Cursing Ritual

Ashikaga Akutai Matsuri is a Buddhist tradition held every New Year's Eve at a mountaintop temple about two hours from Tokyo. Participants shout away a year's worth of frustrations while climbing a dark mountain path, insulting everyone they meet and burning wooden tags that carry their misfortunes. This way, the tradition says, no bad luck will follow them into the next year.
A loud-swearing contest with prizes opens the night and a midnight sake ritual closes it.

Ashikaga Akutai Matsuri origins are not very clear.
One theory blames the Baku, a mythical beast that eats nightmares: people begged it to devour their bad luck, shouting "Baku-yarō!", and that cry supposedly turned into "Baka-yarō!" - "You fool!" - the festival's most popular insult.
The other says famine-stricken farmers were allowed to curse whomever they wanted, one day a year.
Either way, the habit stuck.

Google Maps location of the main event activities can be found here.

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