TOKYO: With the “rainy season” in Japan causing flooding in some areas, a temple in Tokyo on Sunday held a folk festival that aims to stop the rain.

On a hot and humid day that registered 32 C, Buddhist pilgrims of the Jodoshinshu sect danced near the Tama River in the Ota district of Tokyo on the occasion of the Mizudome Mai, a folk festival classified as an Intangible Cultural Asset since 1963.

At the Gonshoji Temple, participants wrapped in straw bales carried by pilgrims blew conch shells while other participants sprinkled them with water.

The festival was born 700 years ago after a great drought hit the Kanto region in 1321. Two years after the drought, heavy rains turned the fields into a lake.

Ceremonies started from this time when people thanked thepriest Honin for making it rain and then stopping the rain, which gave rise to this popular festival.

Since June, Japan has endured the annual rainy season and in some parts of Japan heavy rainfall has created damaging floods.

A week ago, near the Shirakawa River on Japan’s western island of Kyūshū, 360,000 homes were evacuated due to heavy rains that caused the river to overflow.

Climate change has been blamed for increased rainfall and high winds, which are causing more damage than before.