Doyo no Ushi no Hi — dates for 2026 and 2027 | Unagi Kitaya, Ise Doyo no Ushi

Please Note

• We do not take reservations — not on this day, not on any day. Seating is first-come, first-served.
• It is the busiest day of the year. People sometimes queue before we open. Please allow plenty of time.
• We may close early. We grill only what we buy fresh that morning, and it can run out.
• For takeout, call ahead. With an order placed in advance, we can hand it over without a wait.

Avoiding the Crowds

The Day of the Ox is a custom, not a culinary peak. Wild eel is in fact at its best from autumn into winter.

If you would rather eat at a relaxed pace, come a few days either side of the date — or, in years with two, on the second one, which is always quieter. If you are combining your visit with the shrine, a weekday at 11:00 or after 14:00 is usually the smoothest.

Why Eel?

The best-known story concerns Hiraga Gennai, an Edo-period scholar and inventor. Asked for help by an eel seller whose summer trade had collapsed, he is said to have suggested a sign reading "Today is the Day of the Ox" — and business boomed.

There is an older idea too: that on the Day of the Ox one should eat foods beginning with the sound "u". Udon, umeboshi, uri — and unagi. All of them help a body through summer.

Ise has a story of its own, the Filial Eel: a son who went to the river to catch an eel so that his sick mother might regain her strength. Care for another person, expressed through a fish. In that sense the two traditions may not be so far apart.