🏮 Konnyaku Enma

こんにゃくえんま

Bunkyo, Tokyo (源覚寺) · Every year on 15 January

Summer festival

123 days to go
Rooms around Bunkyo, Tokyo fill up while the festival is on.

Konnyaku Enma is a temple fair held around Genkaku Temple in Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo, centered on the temple's statue of Enma, the king of hell, and it has brought crowds to the temple gate since the Edo period. The temple holds grand Enma memorial services in January and July, drawing many worshippers. The name comes from the Horeki era, when an old woman suffering from eye disease prayed for 21 days. In a dream, King Enma told her, "On the morning your prayer is fulfilled, I will give you one of my eyes." On the day her prayer was fulfilled, the woman's eye was cured, and from then on the king's right eye was blind. As a sign of gratitude, the woman continued to offer konnyaku, his favorite food, and the statue became known as Konnyaku Enma, famous for blessings that cure eye disease. The devotion is deeply rooted in Edo and Tokyo culture, appearing in Natsume Soseki's Kokoro and Higuchi Ichiyo's Nigorie. The area in front of Genkaku Temple is still bustling as "Konnyaku Enma Monzen," and in July a ground cherry market is also held, drawing people who pray for recovery from eye disease and other wishes.