Kanda Matsuri Beauties

Last months Kanda Matsuri was more spectacular than ever – it was the 400th anniversary of the Shrine’s founding, and the parades were longer and more varied than usual. On the first of the big parade days, the Shinkosai, I spotted these beauties, temple maidens. The girls are wearing the Ichimegaza, 市女笠, costumes.

More Kanda Matsuri Shinkousai

One of the biggest events of the Kanda Matsuri (Kanda Festival) is the Shinkousai, which is a traditional parade covering over one hundred Tokyo neighborhoods, featuring a parade of priests, gods and shrines half a kilometer long and involving about 1000 people. This year it took place on a Saturday, unfortunately the weather was not perfect but still good enough to keep the parade moving. The parade starts at 0800 and returns to the Kanda Myojin Shrine at 1900. Of course such a long walk requires a bit of stamina from the participants, which explains why most of them are drawn from university athletic clubs, fire fighting departments, judo clubs etc. The costumes and the traditional parade items are something to behold!

Kanda Matsuri 400 Years

This year’s Kanda Matsuri started last week and the peak was this weekend. The Kanda Matsuri is a festival centering on the huge Kanda Myojin in central Tokyo, right between Ochanomizu and Akihabara stations. It is usually a massive festival but since this year was the 400th anniversary so it was larger than ever. I took these photos on the Saturday, in and around the shrine. More photos to come!

Kanda Myojin Hatsumode

Earlier this year the big Kanda Myojin between Ochanomizu and Akihabara station celebrated the usual hatsumode rituals with an appearance of the two gods, Ebisu and Daikokuten. I took these photos as I passed through the shrine and also took the opportunity to take some photos of the newest ema plaques to have gone up since my last visit! Some people really put a lot of effort into their ema! Of course all of these are destined for the big ritual pyre at the end of the year. You can read more about Ebisu and Daikokuten in this blog post from last year.