Sannō Matsuri

The Sannō Matsuri is a festival of Hie Shrine in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, counted together with the Kanda Festival and Fukagawa Festival as one of the "three great festivals of Edo." The main festival is held in mid-June once every two years, alternating its main staging with the Kanda Festival in alternate years—a prestigious festival representative of Edo.

Hie Shrine is a venerable shrine that received deep reverence from the Tokugawa shogunal house as the guardian of Edo Castle. Like the Kanda Festival, the Sannō Matsuri was a "Tenka Matsuri" viewed by the shogun, whose floats were permitted to enter the castle grounds in the Edo period. Embracing within its parish district the very center of Japanese politics—the Imperial Palace, the National Diet Building, and Kasumigaseki—it is truly a festival held at the heart of the capital.

The festival's greatest highlight is the "Jinkōsai" held during the main festival. A festival procession of around 500 people clad in court attire, centered on two imperial palanquins and the main portable shrine, stretches some 300 meters and tours the heart of Tokyo over about eleven hours. The sight of an elegant procession, like a court picture-scroll, advancing against the backdrop of modern skyscrapers is a scene unique to Tokyo, where tradition and the modern intersect. Boasting around 400 years of history, the Sannō Matsuri is a solemn festival dedicated to the guardian deity of Edo Castle, coloring the capital's early summer.