Your guide to Tokyo’s most mysterious New Year’s Eve events

On New Year’s Eve in northern Tokyo, the historic Oji district was transformed as a group of kimono-clad revelers silently walked through the streets toward Oji Inari Shrine. Prince Fox Parade — also known as Dance of the Fox — is one of the capital’s most atmospheric end-of-year traditions: part folklore reenactment, part community celebration, and a must-do New Year’s event for fans of Japanese mythology.

Utagawa Hiroshige’s “The Prince’s Foxfire on New Year’s Eve” (circa 1857)

Fox Dance Series Legend

Long before trains rumbled across the North-South Line, the area around Princes was a land of fields and bush, ideal for vixens. According to an old regional legend, foxes from the Kanto Plain gather under a tall Japanese hackberry tree on New Year’s Eve. In the darkness of winter, they will put on elaborate costumes, disguise themselves as humans, and pay their first visit of the year to Oji Inari Shrine.

The story was made famous by Utagawa Hiroshige, who immortalized the scene in an 1857 ukiyo-e print Prince changes fox fire on the tree. This photo shows the animals illuminated by flickering firelight as they prepared for the pilgrimage – an eerie, mesmerizing sight that still defines people’s imaginations of processions.

This modern campaign was launched in 1993 with the intention of recreating Hiroshige’s image. About 300 participants dressed in kimonos, donned fox masks or prince-style fox makeup, and carried yellow lanterns symbolizing fox fire. The procession starts from Sho Clan Inari Shrine, a small shrine believed to be the place where foxes once changed into human clothes, before heading to Oji Inari Shrine. Along the way, local shops sell fox masks and shrines hand out special New Year’s gifts imperial seal The streets were filled with anticipation of the mysterious night to come.

How to participate in the Prince Fox Parade

You can experience the Prince Fox Parade in two ways: attend or watch.

To participate in the parade, you need to apply in advance (fee is 2,000 yen). If selected, you will need to wear a season-appropriate kimono and fox mask or fox cosmetics, and bring one of the lanterns provided by the organizers. This is not a casual role-playing event – ​​the atmosphere is more ritualistic than dramatic – so dressing appropriately and warmly is key. Since it is winter, many participants wear tabi socks and thermals under their kimonos to survive the midnight chill.

If you don’t plan on dressing up, watching the parade is completely free and just as atmospheric. The streets around the Sho Clan Inari Shrine begin to fill up before 11 p.m., and by midnight, good vantage points are few and far between. The procession itself was eerily quiet, almost solemn, which only enhanced its dreamlike quality as it wound its way toward Oji Inari Shrine, where most people were doing their first prototypeor visiting a shrine for the first time this year.

Please note that Prince Station becomes very crowded after the parade. The Namboku Line is closed at night, taxi numbers may be limited, and the JR Keihin Tohoku Line often meanders out of the station. Many Tokyoites are just waiting for the first train of the new year, or ducking into late-night cafes until things calm down.

Prince Fox Parade 2025 Time and Location

The 2025 Prince Fox Parade will be held from the evening of December 31, 2025 to the early morning of January 1, 2026. The activities will be carried out in stages:

• 13:00 – 15:00 — Children fox Stamped rally in costume (registration required).
• 23:00 — A rice ceremony is held at Sho Clan Inari Shrine, marking the beginning of the New Year’s Eve ceremony.
• 23:30 — Participants begin lining up to march (some areas are restricted).
• 00:00 — As the clock strikes midnight, the fox parade sets off in front of Sho Clan Inari Shrine.
• 01:30 — The parade reaches Oji Inari Shrine, where the celebrations end.

Rights of use:

• A 7-minute walk from Oji Station on the Tokyo Metro Namboku Line and a 6-minute walk from Oji Station on the JR Keihin Tohoku Line

Whether you attend the Midnight Parade or watch the Lantern Parade in the dark, attending the Oji Fox Parade is one of the most magical ways to welcome the New Year in Tokyo and reminds us that even in a sprawling metropolis, ancient legends still flicker like foxfires in the night.

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