Sanja Matsuri (三社祭) is a festival held at Asakusa Shrine in Tokyo every year. With 700 years of celebration traditions, this is the celebration of the founding fathers of the Sensoji Temple, which is the great temple of Asakusa. About 2 million people visit the Asakusa Shrine over the three days of for Sanja Matsuri, packed with both locals and tourists, this celebration is one of the most popular festivals of Tokyo.
The origin of Sanja Matsuri in Asakusa, Tokyo
Sanja Matsuri is dedicated to the spirits of three men, it is believed that two fishermen who are brothers named HINOKUMA Hamanari and HINOKUMA Takenari found the statue of Buddha caught in a fishing net in the Sumida River on the early morning of March 18th, 628.
The third man HAJINO Nakatomo who was a wealthy landlord came into the picture when he heard about the discovery of the Buddhism statue, he approached the brothers and taught them about Buddhism, slowly the brothers converted into Buddhism.
The three men then devoted their lives to the Buddhist faith and consecrated the statue in a small temple which is the Sensoji Temple. The present-day form of the Sanja Matsuri was established during the Edo Period. During 1649, Shogun TOKUGAWA Iemitsu (the hereditary commander-in-chief in Japan) commissioned the construction of the Asakusa Shrine around the Sensoji Temple, the Shinto Shrine was built in dedication of the three spirits of the founders of Sensoji Temple.
The Sanja Matsuri festival event locations are around Asakusa, although the main events and the most populated location during the festival is around the Asakusa Shrine and Sensoji Temple.
When is the Sanja Matsuri in 2020 held?
It is held on May 15th – 17th. Every year during the third week of May, the Sanja Matsuri will be held over the weekend, Friday to Sunday. At 13:00 the festival starts on Friday with the Daigyoretsu parade event, which showcase a good amount of traditional Japanese culture and arts followed by Binzasara Dance in the Asakusa Shrine, which is a traditional dance to pray for prosperity and abundant harvest.
On Saturday, over 100 Mikoshi (a portable shrine) from all 44 districts of Asakusa will be carried to Sensoji Temple and Asakusa Shrine to be blessed before they are carried back to be paraded around their neighborhood to spread luck and prosperity, the event starts from 12:30. Sunday features the three main large Mikoshi which are owned by the Asakusa Shrine themselves. As early as 06:00 they will start the parade through the district of Asakusa, visit all the streets and neighborhoods before returning back to Asakusa Shrine.
The Yakuza on Sanja Matsuri festival and street snacks in Nakamise Street
From the street connecting the Kaminarimon and the Hozomon called Nakamise, there are a lot of small food stalls, hundreds of shops which satisfy everyone’s shopping needs, from souvenirs to traditional and local snacks. The Sanja Matsuri festival also has a monumental gathering that allows segments of the population to mix together, between which the distance is rather strict the rest of the year which is the Yakuza’s. During the festival, Sanja Matsuri Yakuza proudly expose themselves in fundoshi (sumo underwear), without reserve of threat in their simplest apparel to display their many tattoos.
Spot information
- Event name: Sanja Matsuri
- Spot name: Asakusa Shrine (located near to Senso-ji)
- Address: 2-3-1 Asakusa, Taito-ku, Tokyo 111-0032
- Access: within 11-min by foot from Asakusa Station on Asakusa Line, Ginza Line, or Tsukuba Express.
The event will take place in 2021, but please ensure to note the following changes.
※The main parade, transferal of the portable shrine within the city, and transferal of the portable main shrine within each location will be canceled.
※There may be further changes to the festival in the future.
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