By Harry Nara · Last updated
- Daigyoretsu, the opening paradeFriday 21 May 2027
- Around a hundred neighbourhood shrines paradedSaturday 22 May 2027
- Miyadashi, the three main shrines leave at first lightSunday 23 May 2027
- Where
- Asakusa Shrine and the surrounding streets
- Tickets
- Free
- Time of year
- May
- Dates
- Around the same dates every year
Held on the third Friday, Saturday and Sunday of May every year, so the dates move but the rule does not. The Sunday start time for the three main mikoshi has been announced as both six and seven in the morning in recent years; the shrine publishes the schedule a few weeks beforehand.
People describe this as a three day festival and then turn up on the wrong one. The three days are genuinely different events. Friday is a costume parade and it is the calmest and most photogenic. Saturday is around a hundred neighbourhood shrines being carried to be blessed, which is the most accessible and the best introduction. Sunday, starting at first light, is the one everyone means: the three great shrines of Asakusa Shrine itself hauled out into a crowd that is fighting for the privilege of getting a shoulder under them. If you can only do one, do Sunday morning, and get there before the sun is properly up.
What Sanja Matsuri actually is
The annual festival of Asakusa Shrine, honouring the three men who founded Sensoji, the temple next door, and the biggest and least polite street festival in Tokyo. Nearly two million people come over the three days. The thing being carried is a mikoshi, a portable shrine: a lacquered and gilded box with a golden phoenix on the roof, weighing up to a tonne, borne on beams by dozens of people in matching happi coats who deliberately rock and heave it as they go, because the shaking is thought to please the deity inside. The carriers are drawn from the forty-four neighbourhoods of Asakusa, they have been doing this since the Edo period, and the atmosphere is closer to a football crowd than to a religious procession. It is also, historically and openly, the one occasion when Tokyo’s tattooed underworld shows up in force and mostly undressed, which is part of the reputation.
Where to watch Sanja Matsuri
- Sunday at first light, at Asakusa Shrine, and this is the pick. The three main mikoshi leave the shrine grounds at the start of the day in a ritual called miyadashi, and it is genuinely chaotic: hundreds of people packed into the courtyard competing to get under the beams, the shrine rocking violently as it comes through the gate, and everybody roaring. It is over in minutes and it is the single most extraordinary thing that happens all weekend. Be in place well before the announced start.
- Saturday around midday, on the streets between Sensoji and Kaminarimon. Close to a hundred neighbourhood mikoshi, plus children’s and women’s ones, converging on the temple to be blessed. This is the version to pick if you want to see the festival rather than survive it: the shrines come past in a steady stream for hours, you can move, and you can leave whenever you like.
- Friday afternoon, for the parade. The Daigyoretsu opens the weekend with geisha, musicians, dancers and people in Edo period costume processing through the streets. It is the calm end of the festival and by far the easiest to photograph. Families and anyone put off by crushes should start here.
- The back streets rather than the main approach. Nakamise, the shopping street leading to the temple, is where everybody defaults and it is where the crush is worst. One street either side you get the same mikoshi passing with a fraction of the people, and you can actually stand still.
- A window seat, if you plan far enough ahead. Cafes and restaurants on the parade streets take bookings and fill weeks out. It is the comfortable option and it costs you the noise and the physical sense of the thing, which is most of the point.
Tickets and what it costs
Nothing is ticketed and nothing is reserved. It happens on public streets and you watch it from the pavement, free, for as long as you can stand up. What costs money is food, and the stalls that line the temple approaches for the weekend are half the pleasure: yakisoba, grilled squid, chocolate bananas, beer in cups. Bring cash, because most of them take nothing else. The other cost worth planning for is accommodation: hotels in Asakusa raise rates for the weekend and the good ones go months ahead, which is a reason to stay elsewhere in the city and come in by train.
Official information and booking: www.asakusajinja.jp/sanjamatsuri
Getting there
Asakusa station is served by four lines, the Ginza subway, the Asakusa subway, the Tobu Skytree line and the Tsukuba Express, and all of them are heaving for the whole weekend. Station exits nearest the temple are frequently made one-way or closed by police, so expect to be walked around. The better plan is to get out one stop early, at Tawaramachi on the Ginza line or Kuramae on the Oedo line, and walk in through the back streets in ten minutes. On the Sunday morning the trains start early enough to get you there before the shrines come out, but only just, so check the first departure the night before.
Mistakes worth avoiding
Turning up on the wrong day
The three days are three different events, and plenty of visitors arrive on the Friday expecting the famous chaos and see a costume parade instead. Friday is the parade, Saturday is the hundred neighbourhood shrines, Sunday at dawn is the one people mean. Pick deliberately.
Arriving on Sunday at a civilised hour
The three main mikoshi come out of the shrine grounds at the start of the day and the ritual is over within minutes. Arriving mid-morning means the shrines are already out in the streets, which is good but is not the thing you came for.
Standing on Nakamise
The main approach to the temple is where everyone goes, and on the Saturday and Sunday it becomes a stationary block of people. The parallel back streets carry the same processions with room to move.
Bringing a pushchair or a large bag
The crowd density in the streets around the shrine on the weekend is genuinely serious, movement is constrained by police cordons, and there is very little room to manoeuvre anything wider than a person. Friday is the day to bring children.
Photographing the tattoos
A lot of heavily tattooed men will be carrying shrines with their coats off, and pointing a camera at them is at best rude and occasionally worse. Photograph the festival, not individuals, and do not go looking for it.
Other Tokyo events
Frequently asked questions
What is Sanja Matsuri?
The annual festival of Asakusa Shrine, honouring the three men credited with founding Sensoji next door. It is the largest street festival in Tokyo, draws close to two million people over three days in May, and consists chiefly of portable shrines called mikoshi being carried through the streets by teams from the forty-four neighbourhoods of Asakusa.
Which day should you go?
Sunday at first light if you want the famous version, when the three great shrines are hauled out of the shrine grounds into a fighting crowd. Saturday around midday if you want to see the festival comfortably, with around a hundred neighbourhood shrines passing over several hours. Friday afternoon for the costume parade, which is the calm day and the right one with children.
What is a mikoshi?
A portable shrine: a gilded and lacquered box, usually with a golden phoenix on the roof, carried on beams by dozens of people. The heaviest weigh close to a tonne. The carriers deliberately rock and shake it rather than walking smoothly, because the movement is believed to please the deity being carried inside.
Do you need tickets?
No. The whole thing takes place on public streets and is free to watch from the pavement. There is no ticketed viewing area anywhere. Restaurants along the route sell window tables for the weekend and book out weeks ahead, but that buys comfort rather than access.
How crowded is it really?
Very. Close to two million people across three days in a small district, with police cordons controlling movement and station exits closed at intervals. The Saturday is manageable if you stay off the main temple approach. The Sunday morning ritual is a genuine crush and is not the place to be with small children or anything you cannot carry on your back.
Why are there so many tattoos?
Sanja Matsuri is long associated with Tokyo’s traditional underworld, and it is one of the few occasions when full-body tattoos are displayed openly in public, since the shrine carriers work stripped to the waist. It is part of the festival’s character and it is entirely peaceful. Photographing individuals is not welcome.
Sources
- Asakusa Shrine, official Sanja Matsuri page
- Asakusa Tourism Federation
- Taito City, festival information
Dates on this page are checked against the organiser’s own listing and confirmed through 2027. Written and maintained by Harry Nara.