🏮 Sugamo Togenuki Jizo Taisai

巣鴨とげぬき地蔵大祭

Toshima, Tokyo (Koganei Temple) · Every year on 24 January

Food stalls

132 days to go
Rooms around Toshima, Tokyo fill up while the festival is on.

At Koganji Temple (Soto Zen, Mantozan) in Sugamo, Toshima Ward, Tokyo, the Togenuki Jizo Son Daihoe is held three times a year on the 24th of January, May, and September. It is a festival deeply rooted in the local community. As one of the most important days among Koganji's regular temple fairs, many worshippers come to pray for health and happiness. The name "Togenuki" comes from an Edo-period legend. A monk named Nishido gave a maid who had accidentally swallowed a needle a paper charm of Jizo Bosatsu to drink, causing her to spit out the needle. At that time, the needle was stuck in the charm, and faith spread in the deity as a Buddha who removes thorns from within the body. The main event of the daihoe is the Daihannya-kyo Tendoku-e in the main hall, where it is believed that being touched by the wind created when monks lift and turn the pages of the sutra books purifies one of calamities. At the Arai Kannon (washing Kannon) within the temple grounds, worshippers wipe the parts of their bodies they are concerned about with cloths. Along Sugamo Jizo-dori shopping street leading to Koganji, food stalls line up, and visitors can enjoy the bustle while tasting shio daifuku and other treats.

Getting there

5 minutes on foot from Sugamo Station on the JR Yamanote Line or Toei Mita Line; immediately on foot from Koshinzuka Stop on the Toei Arakawa Line (Tokyo Sakura Tram).