A winter purification ritual takes place at a river near a Shinto shrine in southwestern Japan.

Geishas in Kyoto prepare for the New Year by visiting their dance masters for greetings.

The kanji of the year for 2023 goes to a character that is commonly read as "zei" in Japanese and means "tax."

A Shinto shrine in Tokyo gets a little help from robot vacuum cleaners for its annual yearend cleaning.

Hikonyan, an official cat mascot of the city of Hikone in Shiga Prefecture, helps pound mochi at Hikone Castle to prepar...

The reconstruction of Aso Shrine, which was severely damaged in powerful earthquakes in southwestern Japan in April 2016...

A Buddhist temple in Kyoto offers radish soup to visitors, a tradition that has continued for more than 700 years.

Yearend cleaning takes place at Hikone Castle in Shiga Prefecture, western Japan.

Children set up a gigantic dragon statue made of rice straw at a shrine in western Japan to welcome the year of the drag...

Workers at Naritasan Shinshoji Temple in Chiba Prefecture weave sacred ropes from rice straw.