Saturday, November 25, 2017

*::UNKNOWN PLEASURES::* Japanese Festival near Asakusa ♪ Don't Miss Japan's Annual Traditional Festival Tori no Ichi 2017





 

Formerly, 
Japan used to combine the twelve zodiac signs 
(rat, snake, tiger, rabbit, etc) 
with the system of Jikkan (the ten celestial stems), 
which were applied to their calendar. 
Tori-no-Ichi is goes with those Japanese customs,
being held on the days of the rooster in November.

Days of the rooster are every 12 days in November,
so that means Tori-no-Ichi is normally held 3 times!

The first two have already passed,
and day 3 is November 30th!
SO THERE'S STILL TIME!!



But what exactly is Tori-no-Ichi?
It's a Japanese cultural festival 

that is held at various Otori-jinja shrines all over Japan.
Many people come wishing for good fortune,
but the highlight of the festival is booths selling thousands 
of handmade kumade rakes.



This rake is made of bamboo 
and is decorated with masks and koban (old gold coins). 
They range in various sizes 
and we were told the venders spend
9 months to make all the kumade rakes for the festival.


When a rake is sold, 
it is common for the seller(s) and buyer(s)
 to clap their hands rhythmically with one another 
(known as tejime). 
They shout out something while clapping...
but no one could really tell us what they were saying
and what it means.



We went to the Otori-jinja Shrine near Asakusa,
which turns out to be the most famous shrine for Tori-no-Ichi!
 There were so many people!
2018 is the year of the dog,
so many dogs were incorporated in the kumade rakes.
🌟🐢🌟 

Some were super cute,
others were just, wow.


Even one of the sellers was in the spirit
and shaved his head leaving a dog picture with his hair!
Really well done if we do say so ourselves!πŸ•




 At the side there was even a stand
selling RIDICULOUSLY high quality Japanese daruma dolls.


They were daruma like we've never seen before!
Animal-daruma fusions, beautiful glittery daruma,

even smiling daruma!
It'd be happy if I was covered in glitter too.



Like any Japanese festival,
there are tons of delicious food stands!!
Perfect for sharing or all by yourself~
We ended up sharing 
that we we could try all kinds of foodπŸ˜‹

Be sure to come with a hungry stomach
because there was so much good food to choose from!
We recommend buying your own drinks 
from a convenient store or some place
because the drinks are over priced.

Aside from walking around checking out 
the great food and intricate kumade rakes,
there is a traditional Japanese performance
3 times a day!
The times are midnight, 6pm, and 8pm.



Just go to the very end where the shrine is.

The performance will be held here!
There are two sides to see it from,
so no worries.

The performance isn't anything spectacular,
but it was something cultural to see.
After the performance you can go into the shrine!
We didn't though because the crowd was ridiculous.




Every year JAPANKURU goes to Tori-no-Ichi
and gets a new
kumade rake to hand in our office!!
This is our BEAUTIFUL rake.
It was my first time going to such an event
and seeing such an array of kumade rakes.



JAPANKURU made this year's kumade extra special
by requesting our mascot Kuruki to be added!!
Look how cute she is!!!!πŸΆπŸ’“
Perfect for the year of the dog★


Like mentioned earlier,
normally there are three different days Tori-no-Ichi is held.
The next and final day for the year is November 30th.
It's a really fun festival 
and something different than what you see
 at other Japanese matsuris.
If you have the chance,
we HIGHLY recommend going!




More interesting articles on Japanese festivals




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