By Harry Nara · Last updated
- Ichi-no-Tori, the first rooster daySaturday 7 November 2026
- Ni-no-Tori, the second rooster dayThursday 19 November 2026
- Where
- Otori Shrine, Asakusa
- Tickets
- Free
- Time of year
- November
- Dates
- Set by the old zodiac calendar, so they move each year
Two separate fairs twelve days apart rather than a continuous run, because they fall on the rooster days of the old zodiac calendar. There is no third rooster day in November this year, which concentrates the crowds onto these two nights. Each fair runs for a full twenty-four hours, from midnight to midnight, and the evenings are the busy part.
This is a night market with a transaction at the centre of it, and the transaction is the point. The stalls sell kumade, bamboo rakes loaded with gold coins and lucky gods and rice bales, meant to rake in fortune for the coming year. Buying one involves haggling the price down and then, crucially, paying the original asking price anyway and leaving the difference as a tip, at which the entire stall crew turns and seals the deal with a burst of synchronised clapping. Most visitors watch this happen twenty times, work out that something structured is going on, and never quite discover that they were allowed to join in.
What Tori-no-Ichi actually is
An open-air fair held at Otori shrines across Japan on the days of the rooster in November, which is a day count from the old zodiac calendar rather than anything to do with the moon or the modern date. That means two or three fairs a month, twelve days apart, on days that shift every year. The Asakusa one is the biggest and has been running since the Edo period. It sells kumade, decorated bamboo rakes that started as a farming tool and became a charm for raking in money and good fortune, and it runs continuously for twenty-four hours from midnight to midnight, which makes it one of the few genuinely all-night traditional events in Tokyo. Around it are hundreds of food stalls and, this being the entrance to what was once the licensed pleasure quarter, a neighbourhood with more history than it advertises.
Where to watch Tori-no-Ichi
- The Asakusa fair after dark, and this is the pick. Otori Shrine and the adjoining temple grounds fill with rake stalls lit from within, the clapping goes off every few seconds from somewhere in the crowd, and the whole thing has a heat and a noise that daytime does not. The evening of the first rooster day is traditionally the busiest.
- Very late, if you would rather see it than queue in it. It genuinely runs all night. In the small hours the crowds thin out, the vendors are still going, and it becomes a strange and rather beautiful thing to walk through. This is the version almost no visitor sees.
- Hanazono Shrine in Shinjuku, for the same fair on a manageable scale. Smaller, closer to the middle of the city, easy to combine with an evening out in Golden Gai next door, and it carries the same stalls and the same ritual with a fraction of the density.
- Ohtori Shrine in Meguro, for the local version. Quiet, residential, and the fair that people who live nearby actually attend. If the Asakusa crush is unappealing, this is the alternative that keeps the atmosphere.
- The food stalls rather than the rakes. Several hundred of them, doing the full range of festival food, and the row of stalls selling kirizansho, a sweet cut mochi sold at this fair specifically, is worth finding. Plenty of people come for this and buy nothing else.
Tickets and what it costs
Entry is free and the fair is on shrine grounds open to the street. The money goes on a rake, if you want one, and the range is enormous: a small charm-sized kumade costs a couple of thousand yen and is a perfectly respectable thing to buy, while the vast ones destined for the altar of a business run to hundreds of thousands. Custom says you buy slightly bigger each year as your fortunes grow, which is a sales technique of real elegance. Everything is cash. There are no card readers on a stall selling a bamboo rake at three in the morning, and the nearest machines have queues.
Official information and booking: otorisama.or.jp
Getting there
Iriya on the Hibiya line and Minowa on the same line are both a walk of under ten minutes and are the sensible options. Asakusa station is further than the name suggests, around twenty minutes on foot, though the walk up through the old streets is pleasant. On the busy evenings the approach roads become one-way pedestrian systems managed by police, so follow the stewards rather than the map. Because the fair runs all night, the practical constraint is the last train rather than the closing time: if you stay past it, you are committed until the first train, which is a normal way to spend a night in Tokyo and worth deciding on deliberately.
Mistakes worth avoiding
Not realising the haggling is a ritual rather than a negotiation
You talk the vendor down, then hand over the original price and tell them to keep the difference. The reduction is theatre and the tip is the actual custom. Paying the reduced price is not an insult, but it does mean you have politely declined the thing everyone else is there for.
Missing the clapping
When a rake is sold, the vendor and their crew perform a tejime, a burst of tightly synchronised clapping in a fixed rhythm, to seal the sale and call in the luck. Buyers clap along. It takes five seconds, it happens constantly, and it is the sound of the whole fair.
Expecting a fixed date
The fairs fall on rooster days from the old zodiac calendar, so they land twelve days apart on dates that change completely from one year to the next, and there are either two or three of them depending on the year. Nothing about the modern calendar predicts it. Check before you build an evening around it.
Turning up expecting a continuous festival
These are two or three separate nights, not a run. The gap between them is twelve days, and on the days in between the shrine is an ordinary quiet shrine with nothing happening at all.
Buying the biggest rake you can carry
The custom is to start small and go one size up each year. Beyond the tradition there is a practical point: the large ones are genuinely large, they are made of bamboo and paper, and getting one home in hand luggage is not a solved problem.
Other Tokyo events
Frequently asked questions
What is Tori-no-Ichi?
An open-air fair held at Otori shrines in November, selling decorated bamboo rakes called kumade that are believed to rake in good fortune and prosperity for the year ahead. The Asakusa fair is the largest and dates to the Edo period. It runs for a full twenty-four hours and is one of the very few traditional events in Tokyo that genuinely goes all night.
Why do the dates change every year?
The fairs fall on the days of the rooster in the old zodiac calendar, which is a repeating twelve-day count rather than anything tied to the moon or to the modern date. That puts them twelve days apart, on dates that move completely from one year to the next, and gives either two or three fairs depending on how November falls.
What is a kumade and how much does one cost?
A bamboo rake decorated with gold coins, lucky gods, rice bales and other charms, sold as a talisman for business fortune. Small ones cost a couple of thousand yen. Large ones bought for company altars run into the hundreds of thousands. Custom says you buy one size larger each year as your fortunes improve.
How does the haggling work?
You negotiate the price down, then pay the original asking price and leave the difference as a tip, which is the actual custom. The vendor and their crew then perform a tejime, a short burst of synchronised clapping in a set rhythm, to seal the purchase and call in the luck. Buyers are expected to clap along.
Is it free to attend?
Yes. The fair is on shrine grounds and is open to the street with no admission. You only pay if you buy a rake or eat, and everything is cash: there are no card readers on the stalls and the cash machines nearby have queues on the busy nights.
When is the best time to go?
After dark on one of the fair days, when the stalls are lit and the clapping is going off constantly. The evening of the first rooster day is traditionally the busiest. If the crowds put you off, the small hours are extraordinary and almost empty, since the fair runs right through until midnight the following night.
Sources
Dates on this page are checked against the organiser’s own listing and confirmed through 2027. Written and maintained by Harry Nara.