Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Sanja Matsuri – A Joyful Festival



We’d never been to a festival so huge – over one and a half million people attend over the three days.  Of course we were nervous.  Together with Miho, our Japanese “daughter-in-law” and Kanato, our four-year old “grandson” in a stroller, we were swept out of the subway station by a happy crowd into Tokyo’s Asakusa neighborhood.  The streets were closed to traffic and instead were packed wall-to-wall with people, from locals of all ages to tourists from around the globe.  In just a few minutes we were caught up in the enthusiastic celebration and all fears disappeared.

We made our way through the crowd and before too long, we heard taiko drumming and enjoyed a very skillful children’s group perform.  Thanks to an adult member of the group who knew English, I had a chance to talk with their 80 year-old teacher.  Suddenly we heard flutes, whistles and chanting.   There bouncing above the crowd was a sparkling gold sculpture of a phoenix, its wings over 4 feet wide.  As we got closer we could see the mikoshi it adorned, an elaborate portable shrine carried on the shoulders of over 40 singing and chanting men.

We were there on Sunday, the last day of the festival, and the highlight is the parade of elaborate mikoshi.  They “swim” through the crowds, about every twenty minutes, on their way to Senso-ji Temple.  There are three large mikoshi plus one hundred others from the neighborhood associations.  Parading the mikoshi honors the local kami (gods) and bestows good luck upon their respective neighborhoods.  Most of the one-ton mikoshi are carried by men, but there are now women’s associations with their own mikoshi.  Miniature versions are carried by children – and mobbed by photographers. 

Miho took us back to one of the side streets.  There a mikoshi stood on sawhorses while the men rested, ate and enjoyed sake with their families.  They proudly showed off their treasure (estimated to cost $390,760 in 2008) and suggested that we take a photo with them.  It’s one of our favorites from the festival.  

Back out on the main street, I waded into the crowd to take photos and capture the energy of the people carrying the mikoshi.  As long as I kept pace with the celebrants, I was fine.  But it was tough to keep other photographers out of my pictures.   Later we enjoyed some of our favorite festival foods before returning to our hotel exhilarated but exhausted.  We've been back three times with our students and hope to enjoy the celebration again.

Sanja Matsuri (literally “Three Shrine Festival”) is one of the three great Shinto religious festivals in Tokyo.  It honors three men who founded Senso-ji Temple and is held on the third weekend of every May.  The festival dates back to the 7th century but reached its present high status in 1649 when Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu commissioned the construction of Asakusa Shinto shrine dedicated to the three founders.


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