Sensoji, Tokyo’s oldest temple, is a dramatic complex, its large entry gates flanked by two fierce guardians, representing thunder and wind, and a 3.9-metre-tall vermilion lantern – Japan’s largest – hanging down the centre.On the third weekend of May, the usual tourist hordes at Sensoji, in the eastern neighbourhood of Asakusa, are overwhelmed by another source of pandemonium, the Sanja Matsuri. For three days, participants in this traditional festival (“matsuri”) take over Sensoji, the neighbouring Asakusa shrine and the surrounding blocks.Matsuri are regional gatherings usually held on days that are significant in the Shinto or Buddhist religious calendars, a great way to experience modern Japanese culture mixed with the traditional. And at Sanja, the two don’t just meet, they end up in a drunken brawl.Asakusa was the downtown commoners’ district during the Edo period (1603-1868), an era of peace and cultural endeavour. Then as now, the area housed artisans, merchants, craftsmen, carpenters, firefighters, food vendors and even members of the yakuza (organised-crime syndicates). The Sanja Matsuri ties all these people together, the event attracting all walks of life. The streets are lined with thousands of lanterns and ritualistic zigzag-shaped Shinto paper streamers. Indicating that a space is sacred, these paper decorations are usually found at shrines, but during the festival, they also adorn businesses and homes.
Taiko drummers perform on the streets of Tokyo’s Asakusa neighbourhood during the Sanja Matsuri. Photo: Emil Pacha Valencia
With close to 2 million people having attended pre-Covid, the festival is one of Tokyo’s largest traditional events. Its foundations are religious and in homage to the fishermen who, legend has it, established Sensoji in AD628 after they had found a statue of the Bodhisattva Kannon (the Japanese name for Guanyin, the Goddess of Mercy) in a net.
AloJapan.com