Tokyo Shitamachi Guide’s “Events” category covers limited-time events in Tokyo’s Shitamachi area, the eastern part of Tokyo. This time, we will pick Senoji Temple’s Toshi-no-Ichi Fair (the Year-End Market), a seasonal event in the Asakusa area.
Guess, what? We only have two weeks left in 2022. Events to get ready for the new year have started here and there. Sensoji Temple’s Toshi-no-Ichi Fair is such an event. Sensoji Temple holds this event on December 17, 18, and 19 every year.
At the Toshi-no-Ichi Fair, many stalls sell New Year’s items and lucky charms. Sensoji Temple’s Toshi-no-Ichi Fair is also known as the Hagoita-Ichi Fair, as many stalls sell Hagoita, the paddles for battledore and shuttlecock.
For your information, the Hagoita is considered a good luck charm to pray that “children can grow up healthy” and “family members can lead a healthy life.”
Today (December 17), the Toshi-no-Ichi Fair started at Sensoji Temple. So we visited this market right away. This blog post will share what it was like.
We hope this blog post will help you somewhat when you visit Tokyo for sightseeing. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us through the contact form.
This blog post is also available in Japanese. You can refer to it at the following link:
What is Sensoji Temple’s Toshi-no-Ichi Fair?
To understand the Toshi-no-Ichi Fair well, you should know a Buddhism concept called Sanju-nichi Hibutsu, the thirty secret deities of the month.
Sanju-nichi Hibutsu considers one month to be 30 days, and it assigns a different Buddhist deity to each day. For example, the Buddhist deity on the first day is Jokobutsu, and the one on the second day is Tomyobutsu.
The principal image of Sensoji Temple is Sho-Kannon Bosatsu (Holy Kannon Bosatsu). Kannon Bosatsu, the Buddha of Compassion, changes into various forms to listen to the sufferings and wishes of many people. Shokannon Bosatsu is the original form of Kannon Bosatsu.
According to Sanju-nichi Hibutsu, Kannon Bosatsu is the deity of the 18th of the month. For this reason, if you worship Kannon Bosatsu at Sensoji Temple on the 18th of the month, you will be able to form a deep bond with her.
December 18th is the last Kannon Bosatsu day of the year. Sensoji Temple calls this day “Osame no Kannon,” the last Kannon Bosatsu day. According to the temple, this day has been especially popular among worshippers since long ago.
Expecting the crowd of “Osame no Kannon,” stalls began to gather at Sensoji Temple to sell New Year’s items and lucky charms. That was the beginning of Sensoji Temple’s Toshi-no-Ichi Fair. It was around 1659.
During the Edo period, the many Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples hosted the Toishi-no-Ichi Fair. But currently, only the following shrines and temples hold the Toshi-no-Ichi fair:
- Sensoji Temple in Taito Ward
- Yagenbori Fudoin in Chuo Ward
- Takahata Fudoin Kondoji Temple in Hino City
- Okunitama Shrine in Fuchu City
Event Dates
Sensoji Temple’s Toshi-no-Ichi Fair 2022
- December 17 (Sat), 18 (Sun), and, 19 (Mon)
The Event Hours of Sensoji Temple’s Toshi-no-Ichi Fair
- 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Sensoji Temple’s Toshi-no-Ichi Fair 2023 (Expected Dates)
- December 17 (Sun), 18 (Mon), and, 19 (Tue)
Public Transport
Trains
- 1 minute on foot from Asakusa Station (Exit #1) on the Ginza Line
- 1 minute on foot from Asakusa Station (Exit A4) on the Asakusa Line
- 3 minute on foot from Asakusa Station (the Central exit) on the Tobu Isesaku Line (a.k.a. the Tobu Skytree Line)
- 10 minutes on foot from Asakusa Station (Exit A1) on the Tsukuba Exoress Line
Megurin Bus
1 minute on foot from Sensoji-Kita Stop of Megurin North Route (Asakusa)
1 minute on foot from Nitenmon Stop of Megurin North Route (Asakusa)
2 minute on foot from Asakusa Matsuya-Nishi Stop of Megurin North Route (Asakusa)
3 minute on foot from Asakusa Station Stop of Megurin North Route (Asakusa)
2 minute on foot from Kaminarimon-Dori Stop of Megurin East-West Route
3 minute on foot from Asakusa Station Stop of Megurin East-West Route
1 minute on foot from Kaminarimoni Stop of Megurin East-West Route
1 minute on foot from Asakusa Kaminarimon Stop of Megurin North-South Route
Megurin Bus is a community bus operated by Taito Ward in Tokyo. If you sightsee in Taito Ward, this bus is very convenient. For more detail about Megurin Bus, please refer to the following blog post:
Toei Bus
- 5 minutes on foor from Asakusa Kaminarimon Stop of Toei Bus (東 43/Kisa 43)
- 5 minutes on foor from Asakusa Kaminarimon Stop of Toei Bus (東 24/Kisa 24)
- 5 minutes on foor from Asakusa Kaminarimon Stop of Toei Bus (東 42-3/Kisa 42-3)
- 5 minutes on foor from Asakusa Kaminarimon Stop of Toei Bus (東 64/Kisa 64)
- 1 minutes on foor from Nitenmon Stop of Toei Bus (東 64/Kisa 64)
- 2 minutes on foor from Asakusa 2-Chome Stop of Toei Bus (上 26/Ue 26)
- 2 minutes on foor from Asakusa 2-Chome Stop of Toei Bus (都 08/To 08)
The Nitenmon Stop is next to Asakusa Shrine, and the Asakusa 2-Chome Stop is behind Sensoji Temple. The Kaminarimon Stop is by the Asakusa Culture Tourist Information Center.
Our Thoughts
This time, we visited Sensoji Temple around 6 p.m. on the first day (17th). We always choose to go to Sensoji Temple’s Toshi-no-Ichi Fair in the evening, as we feel that it is more atmospheric after sunset than during the day. This is the same for Asakusa Tori-no-Ichi Fair.
Compared to Asakusa Toshi-no-Ichi Fair, Sensoji Temple’s Toshi-no-Ichi Fair is not as big. According to the official web site, there are 25 stalls selling New Year’s items and lucky charms. In addition to that, there are some more stalls that sell food and drinks.
We are sure that the number of visitors has decreased considerably compared to before the outbreak of COVID-19. But, it seems to be the same or slightly higher than last year.
We bought a rake at Asakusa Tori-no-Ich Fair the other day, but we didn’t buy anything this time. If we had a small child in my family, we might have bought a Hagoita in the hope that she or he grows up healthy.
You might feel the Hagoita sold at Sensoji Temple’s Toshi-no-Ichi Fair looks the same every year. But if you take a closer look, you will find that some designs are based on the trend or topic of the year. It’s fun just to look at them.
