Hello everyone!
With the start of May, the temperature difference between cold and hot has become more intense, and it is easy to fall ill.
The Sanja Festival, the ‘liveliest festival’ in Asakusa, is held in May!
At the Corona Disaster, the festival was cancelled and instead of people carrying the mikoshi (Portable Shrine), cars were paraded through the town carrying it…
The atmosphere was completely different from previous Sanja Festivals, but this year the Sanja Festival will return with more enthusiasm and intensity!
This year’s Sanja Festival will be held on the same schedule as before Corona pandemic!
What is the Sanja Festival?
The Sanja Matsuri is one of Japan’s representative festivals, attracting approximately 1.8 million people over a three-day period, and is held on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, starting on the third Saturday in May, mainly in the 44 towns that are the Ujiko of the Asakusa Shrine.
Day 1
On the first day, a ‘grand procession’ of musical floats, tobigashi-yatai, Asakusa dances, geiko dance troupes, and other dancers announces the beginning of the festival in Asakusa, and the ‘Jinji Binzasara Mai’, designated an intangible Tokyo Metropolitan Government cultural asset, is also dedicated.
Citation.
Day 2
On the second day, the ‘Rei-taisai Ceremony’ is held, Followed by the ‘Joint parade of portable shrines’, in which approximately 100 portable shrines from 44 Asakusa Ujiko towns gather on the shrine grounds, where they are purified one by one and paraded through each town council.
Day 3
On the final day, three miyamikoshis, Ichinomiya, Ninomiya and Sannomiya, are carried out from the shrine grounds in the early morning as part of the town parade, and during the day they parade in three separate directions through the towns and villages, returning to the shrine grounds at sunset for the miyairi, the final stage of the festival.
During the festival, the town of Asakusa is coloured in festival colours, and various Shinto rituals are performed at the shrine, and various dances are performed on the shrine grounds and in the Kaguraden.
（Taken from Asakusa shrine website Copyright ASAKUSAJINJA. All Rights Reserved.）
The Sanja Festival, which will be held for the fourth year in succession, will be even more exciting than previous Sanja Festivals, and the whole of Asakusa will be filled with energy and enthusiasm.
I am very much looking forward to hearing the shouts of the mikoshi carriers from all over the place.
During the Sanja Festival, roads near Senso-ji Temple will be closed and regulated, so please be careful if you are coming by car.
Also, for those who come to Asakusa for sightseeing, there will be more people than usual and the shops and Senso-ji area may be very crowded.
If you are tired of the crowds and want to take a break, the best places to take a break from the crowds are Sumida Park and Mizumachi, recommended by our staff.
There are cafés and interesting shops as well as refreshments.
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