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- Kicking Off Summer Festival Season at Atago Shrine
Kicking Off Summer Festival Season at Atago Shrine
July 13, 2015
I absolutely love summer festivals in Japan-the jovial atmosphere and friendliness of strangers, the many wonderful smells wafting from food stands, the people dressed in colorful yukata (cotton kimono). These are events I look forward to every year, and each one is somehow unique from the next. My first festival this season was the Hozuki Festival at Atago Shrine.
Hozuki is the Japanese name for Chinese lantern plants, which begin to bloom around this time of year. While there are many festivals across Japan dedicated to hozuki, the one at Atago Shrine is thought to be the original. Unlike some other festivals, there are no food stalls, games or dance performances, but there are still plenty of reasons to enjoy this festival.
First, visitors start by climbing the 86 steps to the top of the hill on which the shrine was built. The steps, with their large stone slabs and steep grade, represent success in life after a young samurai famously dared to ride up them on horseback. At the top of the steps is a small garden and pond, as well as the shrine itself. During the festival some 1,600 Chinese lantern plants are sold to revelers. Those who purchase one are then able to head inside the shrine to be blessed by a Shinto priest. This was an experience I had never had before, and I found it to be very beautiful and spiritual.
After all this, we headed back down the stairs to street level, and I was surprised to find that going down was much harder than going up! (There is also an elevator available for those who choose to use it.) I will keep that in mind for when festival season starts again with next year's Hozuki Festival.
Kelly