Autumn Festival @ Yoyogi Hachman Shrine: Sept.23, 2014

Here came the season of autumn festivals. I went to Yoyogi Hachiman Shrine.

Autumn festival begun as a ritual ceremony to thank god the harvest. It has become an important event of the year for the communities.

Members of each community (town) in the area carried a portal shrine (mikoshi) and moved around the region. They were in traditional costumes.

The shrine was crowded with visitors. The watched the mikoshi parade, enjoyed foods, and prayed. Kid were enjoying games.

There were tens of open-air stalls in the shrine.

Now, the dengue fever and mosquitoes are the often-spoken topic in Tokyo as mosquitoes with dengue fever virus were found in several parks. One of the parks was Yoyogi Park, quite near from the shrine. 

The festival was as popular as usual.