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The shrine's year
A shrine's year turns with its festivals. The grounds keep the calendar of Japan: come on the day and the festival is taking place. All hours are Japan time.
Dates in 2026
January
- 初
Hatsumōde, the first visit of the year
· Hours: All day
Pine gates and a new sacred rope. Join the queue to pray, and warm up with sweet amazake.
Held on the grounds
- 獅
Shishi-mai, the New Year lion dance
· Hours: 10:30–10:50 · 13:00–13:20 · 15:00–15:20
The lion dances to flute and drum. Let it bite your head for a year of good health.
Held on the grounds
- 鐘
The 108th strike of the New Year's bell
· Hours: 00:00–00:30
Just after midnight the 108th strike of the New Year's Eve bell rings. Until 0:30 anyone who has not struck it yet may strike it once.
Held on the grounds
- 満
Full-moon viewing
· Hours: 17:00–23:00
On the nights around the full moon a bench in the pond garden is set out with pampas grass, moon-viewing dumplings and a small paper lantern. Once the moon is up, sit and watch it until 23:00.
Held on the grounds
- 焼
Dondo-yaki
· Hours: 10:00–12:00
The New Year decorations are burned.
Announced on the notice board
February
- 午
Hatsu-uma at the Inari shrine
· Hours: All day
Red banners and fried tofu for the foxes.
Announced on the notice board
- 満
Full-moon viewing
· Hours: 17:00–23:00
On the nights around the full moon a bench in the pond garden is set out with pampas grass, moon-viewing dumplings and a small paper lantern. Once the moon is up, sit and watch it until 23:00.
Held on the grounds
- 豆
Setsubun bean-throwing
· Hours: 11:00–11:20 · 13:30–13:50 · 15:15–15:35
Lucky beans are thrown from the stage: "Demons out, fortune in!" Catch a bag.
Held on the grounds
- 灯
Mantōrō, the night of ten thousand lanterns
· Hours: 19:00–21:30
Every lantern is lit by flame. Offer one of your own.
Held on the grounds
- 祈
Kinen-sai, prayer for the harvest
· Hours: 10:00–10:40
The priests pray for a good harvest.
Announced on the notice board
March
- 満
Full-moon viewing
· Hours: 17:00–23:00
On the nights around the full moon a bench in the pond garden is set out with pampas grass, moon-viewing dumplings and a small paper lantern. Once the moon is up, sit and watch it until 23:00.
Held on the grounds
- 雛
Hina-nagashi
· Hours: 11:00–11:40
Paper dolls are floated on the pond.
Announced on the notice board
April
- 満
Full-moon viewing
· Hours: 17:00–23:00
On the nights around the full moon a bench in the pond garden is set out with pampas grass, moon-viewing dumplings and a small paper lantern. Once the moon is up, sit and watch it until 23:00.
Held on the grounds
May
- 満
Full-moon viewing
· Hours: 17:00–23:00
On the nights around the full moon a bench in the pond garden is set out with pampas grass, moon-viewing dumplings and a small paper lantern. Once the moon is up, sit and watch it until 23:00.
Held on the grounds
- 鯉
Boys' Day
· Hours: All day
Carp streamers over the pond.
Announced on the notice board
June
- 満
Full-moon viewing
· Hours: 17:00–23:00
On the nights around the full moon a bench in the pond garden is set out with pampas grass, moon-viewing dumplings and a small paper lantern. Once the moon is up, sit and watch it until 23:00.
Held on the grounds
- 輪
Summer purification: the chinowa ring
· Hours: All day
Walk the grass ring on the approach in a figure of eight: left, right, left.
Held on the grounds
July
- 星
Tanabata
· Hours: All day
Tie a strip of paper with your wish to the bamboo.
Held on the grounds
- 満
Full-moon viewing
· Hours: 17:00–23:00
On the nights around the full moon a bench in the pond garden is set out with pampas grass, moon-viewing dumplings and a small paper lantern. Once the moon is up, sit and watch it until 23:00.
Held on the grounds
- 祭
Summer festival and mikoshi
· Hours: 16:00–20:00
The portable shrine is carried up and down the approach. Call out with the bearers: "Wasshoi!"
Held on the grounds
August
- 踊
Bon-odori
· Hours: 18:00–21:00
Dance in a ring round the drum tower.
Held on the grounds
- 灯
Mantōrō, the night of ten thousand lanterns
· Hours: 19:00–21:30
Every lantern is lit by flame. Offer one of your own.
Held on the grounds
- 満
Full-moon viewing
· Hours: 17:00–23:00
On the nights around the full moon a bench in the pond garden is set out with pampas grass, moon-viewing dumplings and a small paper lantern. Once the moon is up, sit and watch it until 23:00.
Held on the grounds
September
- 月
Moon-viewing festival
· Hours: 18:30–20:00
Court music on the stage, pampas grass and dumplings for the moon.
Announced on the notice board
- 満
Full-moon viewing
· Hours: 17:00–23:00
On the nights around the full moon a bench in the pond garden is set out with pampas grass, moon-viewing dumplings and a small paper lantern. Once the moon is up, sit and watch it until 23:00.
Held on the grounds
October
- 例
Autumn grand festival
· Hours: 10:00–15:00
The greatest rite of the year.
Announced on the notice board
- 妖
Hyakki Yagyō, the night parade of yōkai
· Hours: 19:00–19:40 · 20:30–21:10
To flute and drum, hyottoko and okame dancers lead; behind them more than twenty people in great papier-mâché heads dressed as yōkai - umbrella and lantern ghosts, a fox, red and blue ogres, tengu - walk down the approach, while black-clad stagehands raise ghost-fires on poles and lantern bearers light the way. Wave to them.
Held on the grounds
- 満
Full-moon viewing
· Hours: 17:00–23:00
On the nights around the full moon a bench in the pond garden is set out with pampas grass, moon-viewing dumplings and a small paper lantern. Once the moon is up, sit and watch it until 23:00.
Held on the grounds
November
- 祝
Shichi-go-san
· Hours: 09:00–16:30
Children in their best kimono with long chitose-ame sweets; chrysanthemums fill the court.
Held on the grounds
- 酉
Tori-no-ichi rake fair
· Hours: All day
Stalls of lucky rakes, and hand-clapping at every sale.
Announced on the notice board
- 穂
Niiname-sai, the new rice
· Hours: 10:00–11:00
New rice and the year's produce are offered.
Announced on the notice board
- 満
Full-moon viewing
· Hours: 17:00–23:00
On the nights around the full moon a bench in the pond garden is set out with pampas grass, moon-viewing dumplings and a small paper lantern. Once the moon is up, sit and watch it until 23:00.
Held on the grounds
December
- 煤
Susuharai, the year-end dusting
· Hours: 09:00–10:00
The eaves are dusted with long bamboo.
Announced on the notice board
- 満
Full-moon viewing
· Hours: 17:00–23:00
On the nights around the full moon a bench in the pond garden is set out with pampas grass, moon-viewing dumplings and a small paper lantern. Once the moon is up, sit and watch it until 23:00.
Held on the grounds
- 鐘
The New Year's Eve bell (joya no kane)
· Hours: 23:00–23:59
From 23:00 the great bell of the bell tower is struck 108 times, the last just after the new year begins. Each visitor may strike it once too.
Held on the grounds
- 祓
Year-end purification and the night rite
· Hours: 15:00–15:40 · 23:30–23:59
The year's impurities are swept away before midnight.
Announced on the notice board
Every day, every month
- 朔
Monthly rite
The 1st and 15th of each month · Hours: 09:00–09:30
Held on the 1st and the 15th of every month.
- 舞
Miko kagura
Every day · Hours: 10:00–10:20 · 11:30–11:50 · 13:00–13:20 · 14:30–14:50 · 16:00–16:20 · 19:30–19:50
The shrine maidens dance on the stage with bells.
- 灯
Evening lights
Every day · Hours: 17:00–04:59
Half an hour before dusk the staff hang paper lanterns over the approach one by one; at dusk (17:30 at the earliest) three drumbeats and every lantern is lit. They burn till 5 am.
- 照
Seasonal light-up
Every day · Hours: 17:30–04:59
At dusk (17:30 at the earliest) the pond garden is lit for the night: cherry blossoms in spring, bamboo lights and fireflies in summer, maples in autumn, snow lanterns in winter. A stamp for night visitors only.
- 怪
Ghost stories by candlelight
Fridays and Saturdays, June to August · Hours: 22:00–22:12
On summer Fridays and Saturdays at 22:00 an old storyteller sits in a corner of the court and, by the light of one candle, tells a ghost tale of the shrine. Sit near and hear it to the end... Three times, every four minutes.
- 狐
The white fox at the hour of the ox
Every day · Hours: 02:00–02:30
Every night from 2:00 to 2:30 a white fox with a little lantern in its mouth crosses the grounds from the Inari shrine. Follow it without losing sight of it... Three times, every ten minutes.
- 妖
The midnight yōkai parade
Every day · Hours: 00:00–00:20
Every night at 0:00 the yōkai walk quietly down the approach - a parade only night owls meet. Wave to them.
- 朱
The night goshuin
Every day · Hours: 17:30–21:00
From dusk (17:30 at the earliest) to 21:00 the office window gives a night-only goshuin: gold ink on navy paper, the shrine's name and the day. 500 yen, one per visitor each night.
- 市
The weekend night market
Saturdays and Sundays · Hours: 17:00–21:00
On Saturday and Sunday nights the takoyaki and ramune stalls light their red lanterns and stay open till 21:00. The other stalls close at dusk.
- 篝
Bonfires by the kagura stage
Every day · Hours: 18:00–22:00
Every evening from 18:00 to 22:00 iron-basket bonfires burn at both sides of the kagura stage - biggest in winter. Warm your hands at them.
- 星
Shooting stars of the small hours
Every day · Hours: 02:00–04:00
Every night from 2:00 to 4:00 a shooting star now and then crosses the sky over the grounds. Seen one? Make a wish at the pond within a minute - it counts double.
Festivals whose days move (Setsubun, Hatsuuma, moon viewing, the Tori-no-ichi fair...) follow that year's calendar.