"[3] In 1979, peach blossoms, the Japanese red pine, and the common cuckoo were designated the town's official flower, tree, and bird, respectively.

Men from upper, lower, and central Hobara pull at three sides of a "tsutsuko" (meaning a "tawara" or straw bag) containing mochi.

[4] Local legend states that the festival began when a severe famine broke out during the Kyōhō Era (1716-1736) in the mid-Edo Period.

The lord of Yanagawa at that time, Matsudaira Michiharu (later known as Tokugawa Muneharu), gathered the locals and gave them rice seeds that provided a great harvest the following year.

Shinkeibo (真敬坊) was a Japanese monk who travelled through Hobara during a plague and was able to treat the villagers, saving them from their sickness.

Shinkeibo was asked by the villagers to stay in the town permanently, but stories vary as to whether he resumed wandering or spent the rest of his life in Hobara.

Mame Kojiru (豆っこ汁) is a kind of bean used in making dango,[7] a dumpling that is eaten both on its own and as an additive (in miso soup broth, for instance).