Ennichi

I remember being woken up early one Saturday morning by a friend asking if I wanted to go to a nearby ennichi at Fujinomori Shrine. Ennichi (縁日) is basically a festival held at temple/shrine and is believed by some Japanese to be a day that has a special relation with a particular deity. Though, in recent years, any festival where stalls are set up and held at a shrine are referred to as ennichi.

So I got ready and headed to the dorm lounge where about 7 people have already assembled. All of us were hungry and hadn’t had breakfast. Having been to a fair share of festivals in Japan, we just knew we were going to get ripped off at the food stalls. So, on the way to the shrine we stopped by a konbini to get some food. I got what I usually got melon pan and some onigiri.

Took about 15 minutes of walking to reach the shrine. It was a pretty hot day too, really glad I wore shorts.

The west gate entrance into the shrine.

Quite a number of people when we arrived.

Noticed there were a lot of old people and kids. Especially kids.

Food stalls were selling your standard fair summer festival food like yakisoba, takoyaki, okonomiyaki, crepes, shaved ice, cotton candy etc. There were also stalls selling toys, games, masks and other stuff. And as expected, they were expensive. In these festivals, you’re usually being sold inferior goods for about 10 times the original price (sometimes more). I did end up getting some shaved ice though as the day was really hot.

Game stalls too where you pay to play a game, usually throwing darts or knocking something over.

Kingyo sukui or literally goldfish scooping is a game where the player has to scoop goldfish into a bowl using a scooper called a poi. You can catch as much fish as you want using the poi but is not as easy as it sounds as the poi gets torn really easily. If you manage to catch some, you’ll be given a bag filled with water and the fish you scooped up.

Pictures above are from the shrine’s repository. Lots of interesting stuff.

Alcohol.

Huge area.

Man feeding his cute doggie.

There were LOTS of kids. Makes me wonder whether Japan is really suffering from low birth-rates.

When visiting shrines in Japan, there is usually a purification fountain near the entrance. To purify yourself, you first take the ladle, fill it with water and wash both your hands with it. Then, you pour some onto your hand and rinse your mouth. Remember that you’re not supposed to swallow it. Many people usually skip the mouth rinsing part……. including me.

Tying omikuji on tree branches is said to grant you good luck if your fortune was good and repel bad luck if the fortune is bad.

Fujinomori’s Inari shrine.

Seven deities of good luck.

At the offering hall.

To start your prayer, flip a coin into the box (￥100 is the norm).

Proceed to ring the bell. This is supposed to get the kami’s attention.

Then, bow deeply twice, clap your hand twice then bow once more. Hope I remember the order correctly. I asked a couple of my Japanese friends on the order and none of them were sure on how to do it. I ended asking one of my teachers instead.

After staying for about an hour or two, we decided to go back home before noon when the temperature was at its peak. Sorry for the bad pictures, I never expected I’d be putting them up like this when I took them.

Related Posts