Sanja Matsuri
15 May 2026 · movable holiday — Heave-ho! We carry the shrine beneath the stars!
Sanja Matsuri is one of Tokyo's biggest and best-loved festivals. It is held every year on the third weekend of May at and around Asakusa Shrine in the Asakusa district. The festival honours the three men traditionally linked with the founding of the nearby Buddhist temple Sensoji. At its heart are three gilded mikoshi (portable shrines), which are believed to carry the spirit of the deity. Crowds wearing short festival coats called happi carry them through the streets with rhythmic chants and swaying steps. The event draws around two million visitors over three days and is accompanied by traditional music and dance. It is tied to the third weekend of May, so the exact date shifts each year. It takes place in late spring, Asakusa's liveliest season.
Flying across the sky: An ethereal, bluish-silver figure made of luminous dots and thin lines like a constellation: a small ornate portable shrine (mikoshi) with a curved roof, carried on poles by a row of tiny star-point bearers, drifting slowly across the night sky
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