Wind chime festival underway at World Heritage-listed shrine in Nikko

An annual wind chime festival is underway at a UNESCO World Heritage site in Nikko City, Tochigi Prefecture, and north of Tokyo. The festival, designed to soothe visitors to Futarasan Shrine with the refreshing sounds of wind chimes, kicked off on Friday.

Some 1,100 porcelain and ceramic wind chimes, crafted by artist Sato Kazuhiko at his home studio have been hung throughout the shrine compound. Some visitors were also seen striking numbered wind chimes with different tones to play melodies, including a traditional children's song celebrating the Star Festival observed at this time of year.