The 2 Most Memorable Religious Festivals in Tokyo
Experiencing the Daruma Festival and Firewalk Festival in March 2022
Every year in March, there are many festivals. The most famous ones are Girl’s Day Festival on March 3 (including many related festivals such as Hina dolls) and flower festivals such as plum and cherry blossom viewing parties.
This is the week of cherry blossoms so I am sure there will be many people out to see lovely sakura.
But I’d like to introduce you to 2 very interesting religious festivals that took place in Tokyo in March. Since they are held every year, if you missed them, you might want to make a note and add it to your plans for next year.
First is Ganzandaishi Taisai, more commonly called Daruma-ichi (Daruma Festival). It takes place on March 3rd and March 4th every year at Jindaiji Temple in Chofu, Tokyo. It is the second oldest temple in Tokyo.
According to the website, this festival commemorates the 10th century monk Yakuyoke-Ganzandaishi with the purchase of Dharma dolls.
I bought my small Dharma doll here.
According to Jindaiji, priests will write down the 梵字 siddham script, pronunciation of A あ meaning the beginning of things on the left eye of a new Dharma. On the right eye, the character “Un” meaning the fulfillment of things is written once a wish is fulfilled. The Dharma is then presented to the temple as an expression of gratitude (Coming from A-un no kokyu 阿吽の呼吸.)
Every year, about 100,000 people visit the temple over 2 days, so expect it to be jam-packed.
The second religious festival is called Hiwatari Matsuri at Yakuo-in Temple in Takaosan, Tokyo.
Yakuo-in is up on Mt. Takao but the festival takes places near Takaosanguchi Station in the parking lot of the temple.
It is quite hot to see the festival close up. 1000 people are invited to walk cross the fire. Shingon Sect prays for world peace and everybody’s safety in this brave fire festival.
It must be burning hot for monks. I took a video of the entire ceremony and streamed it on my facebook feed. If you are interested, please take a look here.
The festival starts at 1pm but if you want to participate in walking barefoot (the ground is not hot, but the surroundings are burning) be sure to get a free ticket in the morning. We queued to get tickets around 9 am.
Every year, this Hiwatari Matsuri (Fire Walk Festival) takes place on the second Sunday in March.
So mark your schedule for 2023!
