Kagurazaka Festival of Tokyo

Steamy hot summer days in Tokyo and all around Japan call for everyone to take a break from busy schedules, dress "cool-bizu" style (lighter weight casual clothing for keeping cool), pour a glass of iced coffee, and celebrate the season.  It's time for the summer festivals. And with a flash of colorful yukata (summer cotton kimono), bright lights, drumming and flutes, the dancing begins.  The atmosphere seems to buzz and sparkle with laughing children, as oba-san and oji-san, the older adults, look on with nostalgic expressions.  Ah, these familiar sights and sounds bring smiles and sighs to the crowds of spectators who arrive to get in on the excitement.

One popular summer festival held each year in late July in a neighborhood of Tokyo's Shinjuku district  is the  Kagurazaka Matsuri, an event that revives the lively atmosphere of Tokyo as it might have looked and sounded like long ago.

The name Kagurazaka is a combination of kagura (a shrine-dance to music) and saka (hill) and is the perfect name for this beautiful part of Tokyo. It's layout has not changed much since the town was established in the 17th century, even though most of the area was tragically burned down in an air raid on Tokyo in 1920. 

In the center of Tokyo is Kagurazaka Slope, a place that was just beyond the walls of the imperial palace grounds, where poets, artists, politicians and geisha once gathered. Today the cobblestone alleyways and shops provide an interesting historic ambience.  This is actually where Karyukai, or the geisha culture, was born. In 1910 there were as many as 600 geishas who lived here. A few Ryotei, or Geisha houses, are still in operation.

The annual Kagurazaka festival features a Hozuki Ichi (Ground Cherry Pod Fair). The highlight is the Awa-odori Dance. This dance originated in Awa, Tokushima Prefecture, Shikoku. It was first held in Tokyo for the Kagurazaka Matsuri and now a part of many summer festivals in Tokyo, where fifteen to twenty groups of  musicians and dancers form a procession along Kagurazaka-dori, the main street and dance to the sound of the shamisen, flutes, and drumming. It is truly a family event, where kids participate too!  Here is an amateur video recorded by someone who attended this year's festival.

If you go next year, look for the Japanese lantern plant market, held in and around Bishamonten Zenkoku-ji Temple. There you can find volunteers dressed in yukata who guide visitors around the neighborhood. Local cafes and restaurants open stalls for business, welcoming everyone to enjoy a "taste of Kagurazaka."

 

Anytime you're in the mood to explore this part of Tokyo, first do a little research online on the website of the  Shinjuku City Tourism Association. For great walking maps published online in English featuring Kagurazaka and other areas of Shinjuku, click this link.  

Kagurazaka is conveniently located and accessible from the JR IIdabashi station on the Yamanote Line. As you exit the station, turn to your right and a one minute walk will place you at the base of Kagurazaka-dori.  Tokyo Metro Iidabashi and Ushigome-Kagurazaka stations also provide access to the area.

The Kagurazaka event has already wrapped up for this year, but you still have lots of options!  Japan Times Online has an excellent listing of summer festivals in Japan, inside and outside Tokyo, happening in July and August 2012.  Take a look here.