After a six-year hiatus, the Sanno Festival, one of the three major festivals of Edo, resumed this year at Hie Shrine.

This year, for the first time, Shizenkan students and alumni participated in the Jinko-sai (神幸祭) of the Sanno Festival (山王祭). On Friday, June 7th, from early morning until evening, they paraded through the center of Tokyo, some dressed as banner-bearers and some carrying an Elephant float.  This was a unique spiritual experience for many, which also strengthened their ties with the Nihonbashi community. 

Jinko-sai (神幸祭), a core festivity of the event, is a 300-meter ritual procession, consisting of a total of 500 people, carrying two imperial palanquins, a miyamikoshi (portable shrine), and six floats, all dressed in imperial court dress.

On Sunday, June 9th, Shizenkan participated in another important event of Sanno Festival (山王祭), the Shitamachi Rengo Mikoshi Parade (下町連合渡御), carrying on their shoulders one of the 16 mikoshi (portable shrines) that join the parade from Nihonbashi, Kyobashi, Kayabacho, and Hacchobori districts. 

Chanting “essa-hoisa”, the lively procession made its way to the Nihonbashi Bridge, where the carriers “raise the mikoshi up to heaven,”  lifting them up high at the center of the bridge, at Japan’s kilometer zero marker. At the end of the festival, the mikoshi entered the entrance of the Takashimaya Department Store, a building designated as an important cultural property, where the festival reached its climax.