Hanazono Matsuri

Chasing down a bouncing shrine using a GPS tracker

On a recent Sunday morning, we attended the Hanazono Matsuri in Shinjuku.

A matsuri, in its simplest definition, is a festival, and can take many forms and be in honor of many things. However, there are some commonalities which you often see. The Hanazono Matsuri is put on by the Hanazono Shrine in Shinjuku, and a large portion of the festivities involve a lengthy procession through the neighborhoods surrounding the shrine.

The highlight of the procession is undoubtedly the large mikoshi which are kept at the shrine throughout the year, and then are carried through the streets during the matsuri. These mikoshi are shrines containing the kami, or spirits, of the enshrined deities.  They can be multiple tons in weight and it’s considered appropriate to dance and jostle the mikoshi as they’re carried, so they’re generally borne by large groups of people swapping in and out of action, all bouncing and swaying and generally making sure the spirits are awake and entertained.  It makes for quite the sight.

The sight of people straining against the weight, all the while having a wonderful experience, was a blast.

The bearers are members of the local community, and designated with differing happi coats signifying their neighborhood. In addition to the colors and patterns from the different neighborhoods, we loved seeing the slight variation within a neighborhood group, and it was easy to see individuals who had been doing this for years, with slightly more faded garb, next to those with fresh and bright gear.  We had the belief that over the course of the day, different neighborhoods’ people would swap in to get a chance to bear the mikoshi through their streets and past their own homes and shops. It makes for a lovely bit of community building.  While ultimately a religious ceremony, there’s something welcoming and easy-access to Shinto that makes this feel like it can be a significantly impacting community event, even in a largely secular modern world in a large metropolitan environment.

Also in the procession were priests from the shrine, some borne in a convertible car, others on foot, a large portable platform with drummers and musicians, and all manner of other bits.  We also enjoyed this person dressed up as an oni (devil) near the start of the parade.

In a tip of the hat to the modern day, the procession was outfitted with a GPS tracker, so even as you could follow along the intended parade route and timings, you could also hunt them down based upon the geolocation on the web. Given that the overall parade is many hours in length (with a number of breaks as they catch their breath), that’s useful option to have.

After seeing the procession go by 3 times (we raced ahead to catch them as they snaked back and forth across the neighborhoods - twice were planned, once by chance), we went back to the shrine to visit, and to eat.  One classic dynamic of matsuri is the presence of countless colorful, tasty stands from which to get food and drink. We had the classic matsuri-stall favorite of yakisoba, along with okonomiyaki, kakigori, and various other goodies.

Another matsuri staple is a game of catching either toys or goldfish using a paper net in a small round hoop. The trick, of course, is to get as much as you can (or anything, really), before the net breaks apart and falls off. The boys both enjoyed it, although they both found it even harder than it looks.

There were a number of other festivals around town, and we saw a great explanation of the massive Hakata Gion Yamakasa festival while we were in Fukuoka, but this was the one we were able to make it to given timings.  We had a blast, and would have loved to see more given half a chance.