🏮 Hari Kuyo

針供養針供養

Taito, Tokyo (Awashimado and Others) · Every year on 8 February

Traditional performing arts

147 days to go
Rooms around Taito, Tokyo fill up while the festival is on.

Asakusa Hari Kuyo is a traditional event held every year on February 8 at the Asakusa Temple Shitamachi Hall in Taito Ward, Tokyo. People involved in needlework hold a memorial service for broken or worn-out needles they have used, sticking them into soft tofu or konnyaku to express their gratitude. Women involved in Japanese and Western dressmaking and sewing school students attend, and the temple grounds are wrapped in a quiet, solemn atmosphere. This custom has continued since the Edo period, and along with showing care for needles, it carries the meaning of praying for improvement in sewing skills and safety in work. At Shitamachi Hall, a service of gatha chanting is performed by the Kinryu Association, and participants place needles on a sanbo tray for the memorial service, then visit the memorial tower for used needles in the temple grounds. In the symbolic ritual of sticking needles into tofu, the spirit of letting needles rest after continuously piercing hard fabric is expressed. The event is held during the season when plum blossoms bloom in the temple grounds, and there is also the pleasure of viewing flowers after the memorial service. Participation is free, and it is about a 5-minute walk from Asakusa Station.