Fukagawa Hachimangu Shrine Festival

Getting soaked to the skin, happi-clad men and women in unison carried omikoshi or portable shrines through the streets in a major summertime festival in Tokyo recently, turning their procession route into a spiritual energy site.

The festival, commonly known as the Fukagawa Hachimangu Shrine Matsuri in the capital’s eastern city of Koto, is one of the three grand feasts in Japan’s metropolis. It is also called a “water-pouring festival,” in which onlookers pour buckets of water over omikoshi and its bearers to purify them. Some children use a toy water-cannon while local firefighters sprayed water with hoses at fixed spots along the route.

On the festival day, the god is believed to move to omikoshi temporarily from the main shrine. Fifty-three portable shrines shouldered by turns  paraded over a distance of an 8-kilometer (4.4 mile) route under the scorching sun.


The festival dates back to 1642, when son and heir to the third shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu was born. The feudalistic Edo period under the reigns of Tokugawa lasted from 1603 to 1867, when Japan took a course toward modernization. The shogun’s capital was called Edo, then.

By the early 18th century, Edo had a population of more than 1 million, making it the largest city in the world, surpassing London’s and Beijing’s. The Tomioka Hachimangu Shrine in an area popularly called Fukagawa is  about 3.5 kilometers (2 miles) east of the Imperial Palace ground.

The shrine was the venue for the promotional sumo tournament held for the first time to raise funds to repair shrines or temples during the Edo era. There are stone monuments of yokozuna or grand champion, ozeki or champion, and more to see in shrine precincts. It’s worth a visit.  Sumo is a national sport of Japan.

About 350,000 people were out in Sunday’s major festival, held once in every three years, according to the shrine and police accounts.

Japanese shrines are regarded as a sacred site where people often visit to pray for the safety of their families and the prosperity of business as well as whatever proper for them like success in the entrance examination.

(by Kozo)