Hiei Jinja shrine's Sanno Matsuri festival, Tokyo.

比叡神社 山王祭り



Tokyo's Yotsuya area, only walking distance from the National Diet building, the Supreme Court building, and the Imperial Palace, is one of Tokyo's main business districts. All suits and ties and swagger, it seems an unlikely place for anything as colorful and unbusinesslike as a a festival.

However, last Friday, a festival is what Yotsuya got. The Sanno (literally "Mountain King") festival came to Yotsuya per kind favor of Hiei Jinja, a Shinto shrine in the adjoining Akasaka district that houses the deity of Edo Castle, i.e. the present Imperial Palace.

My attention was alerted to it on Thursday by the presence of a booth outside the Kojimachi branch of the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, as well as paper lanterns hung throughout the area from storefronts.

The festival was underway early, from about 8.30am. I was on my way to work, so was unable to take much of it in, but got a few shots of it warming up.





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