行事 / EVENT

As a spring event of the Canada-Japan Society, we are pleased to provide members and guests with an opportunity to see the Asakusa Sanja Matsuri, Tokyo’s largest Shinto festival, followed by lunch watching a Japanese dance show, the Sanja Matsuri’s highlight featuring traditional and time-honored Asakusa geisha dance performances. This event is scheduled for May 15, 2016, the final day of the three-day festival.

You will first see the dynamic and exciting procession of the three main mikoshi (portable shrines) of Asakusa Shrine going from the Kaminarimon Gate down Nakamise-dori toward Asakusa Shrine, After seeing the parade, you will proceed to the second floor of the Asakusa Kenban (where geisha are trained) to watch a traditional Japanese dance show called “Kumi Odori” comprising performances by three groups of dancers (Hanayagi-ryu, Fujima-ryu, and Hokan (professional male entertainers)), while at the same time enjoying a bento (box) lunch sitting on zabuton floor cushions or chairs which are also available.

Due to limited seating space, participation is limited to 15 persons, with registrations to be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. Early registration is highly recommended.

History of Asakusa Sanja Matsuri

According to the legend of Sensoji Temple, some 1390 years ago, two fishermen brothers named Hinokuma Hamanari and Hinokuma Takenari found a statue caught in their fishing net in the Sumida River and took it home. When they showed it to a local man of culture named Haji-no-Matsuchi, he told them that it was a statue of Sho Kannon (a Buddhist deity) and that he was a devout believer in this deity. He earnestly preached to the two brothers on the meritorious deeds performed by Kannon. He remade his house into a temple to house and honor the statue, and all the three men deeply worshipped it.

That was the origin of Sensoji Temple. Years later, as developers of Asakusa, the three men were given the honorific title of Sanja Dai Gongen（Gongen is a title in Shinto) and enshrined there. It is said that this took place towards the end of the Heian period (some 800 years ago) when the Gongen idea for Shinto-Buddhism syncretism based on the notion that Kami (Shinto deities) were manifestations of Buddhas was becoming popular.

The name of the shrine where the three men were enshrined was Sanja Gongenja, but in 1873 this name was abolished and the shrine is now called Asakusa Shrine. The parade of the mikoshi (portable shrines) of this shrine in the Sanja Matsuri thrilled and energized the people of Asakusa as the wildest event in Edo, and the liveliness of the festival was touted as unparalleled all over Japan.

The present main building of the shrine was constructed and donated in 1649 by Iemitsu Tokugawa, the third shogun. It is a structure built in the Gongen style, an architectural style typical of the early Edo period, and has survived many disasters. Designated as an Important Cultural Asset by the government, the shrine was repaired and restored to its original shape in 1963 and in 1996 with large financial assistance from the government.