Sanja Matsuri Yakfesta

[thomas]

Yesterday, Sanja matsuri (三社祭) was held in Tokyo. It is one of Tokyo's three largest Shinto festivals and is considered one of Japan's wildest and largest. Some posters on Twitter lamented that the festival had degenerated into a street show for local yakuza thugs.

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[thomas]

Obviously, it was not all about the yakuza:

The bustling Sanja Matsuri festival featuring three huge "mikoshi" portable shrines returned in full force to Tokyo's Asakusa district for the first time since 2019. The hugely popular event had been downsized over the last three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The parade part of the festival was canceled in 2021. The three massive mikoshi were moved from the grounds of Asakusajinja shrine at 6:30 a.m. on May 21 and paraded through the crowded streets on the final day of the three-day festival. Large crowds, including foreign tourists, gathered to take pictures and follow the mikoshi around.

First full-scale Sanja Matsuri in 4 years rocks Tokyo’s Asakusa | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis