Summer Festival

Hi there. After our week long summer holiday, we are back in business. Thank you very much for waiting patiently. Today I am going to tell you about the summer festival in Fukagawa town where our office is.

JPC’s office is situated in the middle of Tokyo, 2Km from the Tokyo Railway Station as the crow flies. This area was, about 400 years ago, under the government of Edo, an old tenement district for townspeople. With numbers of mansion houses for Samurai, the town was full of life at that time. We have 3 big summer festivals in Tokyo and the Fukagawa Festival is one of them. It is normally held around the 15th August every year. It is also called “Mizukake Matsuri” (Water Splashing Festival) because it is held on a hot mid-summer day, spectators along the street splash water onto the portable shrines. Every 3 years, we have “Hon-Matsuri”, an even bigger one where all 54 neighbouring towns get together with their portable shrines and carry them for 8Km as a group ritual. We had the “Hon-Matsuri” this year. It is a big event with more than 500,000 people, some carry the shrines and the others just watch & cheer them on. The origin of the festival goes back to 1642, when Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu celebrated the birth of his eldest son Ietsugu, the festival has more than 360 years of a long and distinguished history.

This year, it was held on Sunday, 18th August and was in the middle of our summer holiday, so we, JPC did not participate as the company but because I live here with my family, my wife and 13-year-old daughter joined the event. My daughter had a role to lead the shrine (and me? Of course, taking photos of them…). Somehow, it was unusually chilly that day with rain pouring occasionally. With people splashing water on her and the shrine, my poor daughter was so cold that she had to go to the toilet very often. According to her, she was worried what to do because there was no public toilets around, but people who had houses along the street let her use their toilets. It must also be the magic of the festival when people let total strangers use their toilets! A heartwarming scene, isn’t it?

Well, have you ever seen a portable shrine before? It is amazing. You will be overwhelmed with its size and decorations. It is totally impressive when everyone carries it together saying “Wasshoi” rhythmically and after seeing so many of them walking past, I was quite moved. I really admire to the Edokko (Tokyoites) who have been trying hard to keep this remarkable tradition, for their attachment and passion for the festival. We have this festival annually around this time of the year, so if you happen to be visiting Japan, please let me know; I will be more than happy to show you around. Lots of tourists from overseas come to watch the festival and they seem to be enjoying it, so I am sure you will like it too! (Please check some of my photos on the blog page.)


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(Editor)
JPC TRADE CO.,LTD.
Kato building 4F, 1-1-2 Furuishiba, Koto-ku, Tokyo
Japan Used Motor Vehicle Exporters Association (JUMVEA)
TEL : +81-3-5245-7731
FAX : +81-3-3643-4955