Sanja Matsuri is based at Asakusa Shrine (浅草神社, Asakusa-jinja), an auxiliary shrine alongside the Buddhist temple Senso-ji. Dating to 1649, Asakusa Shrine is the oldest standing shrine in Tokyo, having survived the air raids of World War II. If you've seen a tall red pagoda behind Senso-ji, that's part of the shrine. This festival was set up to honour the three founders of Senso-ji: Hinokuma Hamanari (檜前浜成), Hinokuma Takenari (檜前竹成), and Hajino Nakatomo (土師真中知), whose souls are enshrined at Asakusa-jinja. In the picture above, which my grandmother took from atop the Asakusa Tourist Information Centre, Senso-ji's main hall is to the right and Asakusa-jinja's pagoda is to the left.
The festival starts at 1:00 PM on Friday, with the Daigyōretsu (大行列, lit. "large parade") parade along the Nakamise shopping street. Whilst I don't have any pictures of this, I understand it looks quite similar to the Aoi Matsuri we saw in Kyoto. On Saturday afternoon, nearly 100 small mikoshi are carried out to receive a blessing at the shrine at around noon. They are then taken back out to spread that blessing around the Asakusa neighbourhood. Although I wasn't around for the festival on Saturday, I imagine they would look much like this, in terms of size.
Sunday, meanwhile, is the main event. Three larger mikoshi set off from Asakusa-jinja at 6:00 in the morning, where hundreds of guests scramble for the honour of carrying them about. After a couple of hours, they leave the temple grounds and set off around Asakusa and back. We were lucky enough to spot one of them as soon as we set foot outside the subway station, along with a veritable sea of people holding it aloft.
They need all those people; each mikoshi weighs a ton, and with all the gold leaf and other decorations, costs ¥40 million to produce. This model on display at the visitor's centre shows what they look like; I imagine this one is smaller, but not by much.
Many small drum-and-flute bands were set up all over the place.
Some of them had moving floats for a stage. This one was even decorated with what looks to be purple wisteria which, along with catching different views of Mout Fuji, had grown into a running theme of my particular holiday.
It seems not only the performers and shrine priests dress up, but also other regular people take festivals as an excuse to break out their traditional clothing. I even saw a guy wearing a happi coat and loincloth with no pants. No, I don't have a picture of that. You're welcome.
The Sanja Matsuri was the last new experience we had in Japan, but before I wrap this holiday up once and for all, I'd like to share one final set of pictures in a separate article. Look out for it, next time on Sekai Ichi!
Asakusa Shrine
Hours: The shrine grounds are always open. The main hall is open from 6:00 AM (or 6:30 AM from October to March) to 5:00 PM.
Cost: Free.
Address: 2-3-1 Asakusa, Taito-ku, Tōkyō-to 〒111-0032
Access: The Kaminari-mon gate is only 1-3 minutes from Asakusa Station (Tokyo Metro Ginza (G), Toei Asakusa (A), and Tobu Skytree (TS) lines), depending on the line and exit used. The closest exits are Ginza exit 1 and Asakusa exit A4. Either way, turn right under Kaminari-mon onto the Nakamise shopping avenue. The temple is at the end of the road, about 400 metres (¼ mile) later.
Website: (English) (Japanese)
