Tokyo Diaries – Tori no Ichi Redux

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It’s at the point now where I notice every anniversary in Japan.

I went to a couple of Tori no Ichi festivals last November, soon after I arrived in Japan, and did a post on it then.  But I decided to check out the big one this year, in Asakusa’s Otori Jinja.  This one draws such huge crowds that visitors are advised to avoid the evenings if possible, so I went mid-afternoon, when most Tori no Ichi are pretty tame.

As you can see, there were massive crowds even at that time of day, and the Kumade (good luck rakes resembling a rooster’s plumage) even more numerous and elaborate than at Shinjuku’s event last year.  Afterwards, I took a walk over to Matsuchiyama Shouden Temple, on the Sumidagawa about 10 minutes walk from Sensou-ji.  It’s one of the oldest temples in Tokyo and quite lovely, with terrific fall colors, but sadly the light was almost gone when I arrived so I only managed a couple of decent photos.

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4 comments

  1. m

    wow, that's really crowded haha! did you buy anything there? 🙂

    i'm really loving your 'tokyo diaries' segments. thanks for writing them so regularly! how many festivals are there in japan though? there seems to be A LOT 😀

    anyway, first to comment again! though in LiA, it seems like no one really fights for first comments X)

  2. Thank goodness for that….

    There's a festival somewhere every day, I'm quite certain. Major matsuri like Tori no Ichi (which actually takes place 2 or 3 days every November) are a bit more rare.

  3. t

    WOW. it's so nice. lovely and lively there. I wonder how's like that in the evening. probably even better (although it's more crowded, yet it must be a different feeling in the twilight or night in those festivals. so many scenes of festival in anime are floating in my mind right now HaHa).

    how long have you been in Japan until now?
    I wonder how is New-Year day over there, probably crowded, yet so nice.
    well it's a little bit more than a month from now, guess there will be preparations soon or something.

  4. F

    Might find this interesting – it goes into a little more about the festival proper:

    http://www.torinoichi.jp/english/

    That link and the other link on its page named "the details of…" were both informative for me.

    Great pics as usual Enzo; I also greatly enjoy your tokyo diaries posts. ^^

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