San-no-Tori Festival at Hanazono Shrine
These photos are from my first Tori-no-Ichi festival in 2020. It’s the final part of a series of three luck festivals. The first two are called Ichi-no-Ichi and Ni-no-Tori. They go for twenty-four hours. Street photographers love them.
San-no-Tori venues
They are held at various shrines and temples, but mine was at the historical Hanazono in Shinjuku. The address is: 5-17-3 Shinjuku, Shinjuku City, Tokyo
When is it held?
Tori-no-ichi festivals take place in November on the “days of the rooster” (in the Chinese zodiac). This can occur two or three times in a typical November. The dates vary from year to year.
San-no-Tori Festival experience
Honestly, I don’t get the difference between the three festivals. I couldn’t see it. They seemed to be mostly the same. Maybe I needed new glasses?
In short, people go to Tori-no-Ichi to get their piece of good luck. They go to pray and wait in long lines to do so. Then they get their Kumade, good luck rakes. Rakes? Yes, because the event has its origins as a farmer’s festival. They haggle with the vendors before buying them. It’s very friendly.
The stalls they buy them from are brightly lit up. Decorations abound. Everything is colorful and glitzy. For a photographer, Tori-no-Ichi brings together culture, people, and color. That makes it worth photographing.
I did have one complaint. It was the absence of food stalls. Festival food is always great, so that was a major problem. But due to coronavirus, it couldn’t be helped.
Regardless, the crowd was huge. I thought that signified how important some of these festivals are. Even in a pandemic, people weren’t deterred from going. Nothing would stop them. Culturally, they are important.
The photography was typical night work. It was a matter of using high ISO and shooting wide open. Of course, I kept the shutter speed as slow as possible.
I hope to go to this event’s home in Asakusa in the future. Yes, I’d like that! Leave questions and comments below.
"San-no-Tori Festival 2020" photo gear
- Camera Body: Fujifilm X-T3
- Lens: Fujifilm XF 16-55mm F2.8 R LM WR
Date of Photos: 13 November 2020
More festival articles
External related websites
- Hanazono Shrine (official website)