Tenjin Matsuri (Tenjin Festival)

Osaka’s Tenjin Matsuri is known as one of the three major festivals in Japan, along with Kyoto’s Gion Matsuri and Tokyo’s Kanda Matsuri.

Shinto rituals and various events are held for about a month from late June to July 25 every year. In particular, on July 24 and 25, a boat procession is held on the Okawa River (formerly Yodo River), and a votive fireworks display is held.

The bonfires, lanterns, and fireworks reflected on the Okawa River are beautiful and are called the Fire and Water Festival. The Hoko-nagashi ritual and Rikutogyo are also held.

The dedicated fireworks display on the last day of the festival usually attracts more than 1 million people.

Tenjin Matsuri is said to have started in 951, two years after Osaka Temmangu Shrine was founded. At that time, people floated a sacred halberd down the Okawa River and performed misogi-wari (purification purification) at the spot where the halberd landed. This is said to have been the origin of the Hoko-nagashi ritual, and the Funatogyo began when people were welcomed by boats at the same place.

It was during the Edo period (1603-1867) that the Tenjin Matsuri became known as one of the three major festivals in Japan, and the taiko drums were received from Toyotomi Hideyoshi. However, when the festival site was moved to a new location in the late Kan’ei period, the Hoko-ryu ritual was dropped and the jiguruma, the origin of the land procession, appeared.

Then, during the Genroku period (1688-1704), dolls began to be displayed on the hoto of the boats, and a ko was formed, making the festival famous as one of the three major festivals in Japan.

The grandeur of the Tenjin Festival is depicted in the novels “Tokaido Chu Hizakurige” and “Seken Mochizukyo,” and the Tenjinbashi 2-chome shopping arcade is decorated with four “go-go dolls” depicting Hideyoshi Hashiba, Takatsuna Sasaki, Yoshie Yawataro, and Kansuke Kizu.

Although the Tenjin Festival was once cancelled due to the upheaval of the Meiji Restoration, it is now held with great fanfare and is loved by many people.