Kanda Festival: May 12, 2013

It is often said that Tokyo’s summer starts with Kanda Festival. Today was the last day of the Festival and I visited there. It was a clear and hot day.

The festival originally started as an event of Kanda Shrine. It became popular in the Edo era. It is now held every two years. As 2011’s festival was suspended because of the Great East Japan Earthquake, this year’s festival was first in four years.

Tens of mikoshi (portal shrine), carried by members of communities in the are, moved around the shrine. People were in happi or traditional costume.




Thousands of visitors watched the performances in the shrine and on the street in the area.

Kanda Festival is counted as one of Tokyo’s three major shrine festivals (other two are Asakusa’s Sanja Festival and San-no Festival of Hie Shrine). It is also counted as one of Japan’s three manjor festivals (other two are Kyoto’s Gion Festival and Osaka’s Tenjin Festival).

It is true, indeed, that Tokyo's summer began with the festival.