Tokyo Explorer

be nowhere else the 3rd weekend in May
For three days each May, up to two million Japanese men, women and children descend upon Asakusa in a cacophony of noise, celebration and, at times, religious based, display of cultural madness – the reason, the annual holding of the 1300-year-old Sanja Matsuri.

photos: Mark A Buckton

As one of the main festivals in Tokyo, and arguably THE most well known annual festival in Japan period, the event itself is often (mis)associated with Senso-ji – the famed Buddhist Temple that draws in many millions of tourists each year.

In reality, the festivities associated with Sanja (lit. Three Shrine Festival) centre on the enshrined spirits of the two fishermen brothers, Takenari and Hamanari Hinokuma credited with founding Senso-ji Temple, and a man usually labeled the head of their 7th century village in historical texts named Nakatomo Hajino.

Various reports exist as to just how the brothers Hinokuma came into possession of a golden Kannon (Goddess of Mercy) statuette while fishing on the Sumida River just to the east of the temple, but a common tale has them pulling it up in heir nets, throwing it back into the water, only to have it reappear in their nets the next time they drew in.

Taking the statuette to their local headman – Hajino – the brothers and their village elder founded the main temple, but were themselves later enshrined in the Shinto shrine to the right and slightly to the rear of the main hall of Senso-ji. The spirits of the men are, annually on the Thursday prior to the weekend Sanja Matsuri, transferred to three portable shrines known as mikoshi that will enable them to travel through the modern streets of Asakusa, bestowing fortune and good luck upon the businesses of their parishioners in the year ahead.

The festivities really kick off on the Friday (16th in 2008) with the afternoon Daigoretsu Parade of musicians and street performers before the gathering 24-hours-later on the 17th of around 100 relatively small mikoshi from local shrines all over the capital.

Following a period of often violent jostling and ramming into each other as these smaller mikoshi vie for position, they travel up the main Nakamise Street leading to the Buddhist Temple but later gather in front of the Shinto shrine where they are blessed by priests prior to returning from whence they came.

And then come the big boys.

Day 3 of the main celebrations (Sunday 18th) sees the crowds gather early as the three main mikoshi – those containing the spirits of the fishermen brothers and their village elder – leave the shrine at 6 a.m. and travel towards the main entrance of the temple / shrine grounds to begin a tour of the entire area of Asakusa. The mikoshi separate at the gate to achieve this tasks, but wherever they go, hundreds of thousands are usually on hand to cheer, shout support for and stand in for those tasked with carrying the extremely heavy wooden structure; a great honor if achieved – but be prepared for a great deal of pushing, shoving and the odd discreet punch as others try to dislodge you to claim their own space under the supporting beams.

As evening descends, the three reunite and make their way back to Asakusa Shrine in the grand finale procession – usually arriving ‘home’ at 8 p.m. or so.

With the dispersing of the huge crowds lasting well into the night, the area now the beneficiary of godly blessings, and more than a few hangovers set for the following morning, the spirits of the three men long dead move back into the main shrine facility and for another year, the Sanja Matsuri winds down.