Paper lanterns announcing the Sanja Matsuri festival are seen Tuesday in the Asakusa district in Taito Ward, Tokyo. (courtesy Yomiuri Shimbun)
Another point is that the date of the festival has been changed because of the G7 Summit to be held at Ise-Shima. That either shows flexibility by the Shinto authorities, or it is a worrying indicator of just how much power the Abe administration has amassed. The third point concerns donation boxes being set up at shrines for those affected by the Kumamoto Earthquake. Such humanitarian measures are of course to be welcomed wholeheartedly, and it would be good to such work extended.
The Sanja Matsuri, a symbolic festival of Tokyo that attracts more than 1.8 million people to the Asakusa district in Taito Ward, will be held from Friday.
The ritual event at Asakusa Shrine is normally held for three days starting on Friday in the third week of May. But the shrine and its supporting group decided to hold the event a week earlier than usual due to concerns over festival security, as the Metropolitan Police Department’s focus will be directed toward the Group of Seven Ise-Shima Summit meeting on May 26-27.
The Sanja Matsuri will kick off at 1 p.m. Friday with its iconic Daigyoretsu parade. A 300-meter-long line of people, including steeplejacks singing a work song and women in geisha costumes, will be headed by floats carrying musicians that will parade down streets such as the Asakusa Rokku Broadway and Nakamise-dori.
From noon Saturday, Asakusa will be bustling with about 100 mikoshi portable shrines from local neighborhood associations.
The last day, Sunday, begins in the early morning with the main ritual event of Miya-dashi, in which the ujiko (local members of shrines) bring out three mikoshi portable shrines. These mikoshi will be carried around the whole Asakusa district by members of the general public. The festival finishes with Miya-iri, when the mikoshi return to the shrine after dark.
On Saturday, a ritual to pray for the early recovery of those affected by the Kumamoto Earthquake will be held after the festival’s ceremony. Donation boxes will be set up in the shrine for the three days of the festival.
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For the official website (in Japanese) click here. There are also numerous youtube videos there that can be viewed by clicking on them.
(courtesy tokyoing.net)
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