The fairs held in November at the Otori Shrines in Tokyo.

The head shrine of the deity Otori myōjin is Ōtori jinja, located in Osaka Prefecture’s Sakai-shi, and there are many Otori jinja branch shrines in and around Tokyo. Among these, the cock fair of the Otori jinja in Asakusa, Tokyo, is especially famous.  About 1000 vendors will be out to celebrate and about 800000 people visit this festival every year.

On that day bamboo rakes decorated with such things as lucky masks, chests of a thousand gold coins and old-fashioned account books, are sold as lucky charms in order to “rake in” good fortunes.    At the festival, people presented live birds to the deity and prayed for improved fortune. The custom also included setting those birds free the next day in front of Asakusa temple.

You can enjoy watching the negotiation between people who is buying bamboo rakes and selling them.

When the negotiation is settled, they will hollo loud to celebrate the business transaction – it is a great fun to watch for sure.

If you buy the bamboo rakes, you will need to bring back and return to the shrine the next year.

You will then buy a new bamboo rakes for the new year and hope for more good fortune and happiness in the new year.

Besides buying the bamboo rake, another best part is to eat all the street food.

Most popular street food in Japan would be…

No.1- Yakisoba

No.2- Takoyaki

No.3- Frankfurt sausage

No.4 – Beer

No.5 – Okonomiyaki

If you don’t know what and where to start buying the street food, the best bet would be to go to the shop where there is a long line of people!

There are many activities that children can participate and enjoy at the festival.

This year’s schedule-

November 11th (Friday)

November 23rd (Wednesday)

Festivals at these temples-

Ootori Shrine (Taito-ku, Tokyo)

Hanazono Shrine (Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo)

Ohkunitama Shrine (Fuchu-city, Tokyo)

Konpira Ootori Shrine (Yokohama)

Comments

comments