🏮 Tsuruoka Hachimangu Bonbori Sai

鶴岡八幡宮ぼんぼり祭

Kamakura, Kanagawa (Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine) · Every year on 31 August

Summer festivalTraditional performing arts

351 days to go
Rooms around Kamakura, Kanagawa fill up while the festival is on.

Every year, from the day before the first day of autumn (Risshu) in August until the 9th, the Bonbori Festival is held at Tsurugaoka Hachimangu in Kamakura City, Kanagawa Prefecture. At dusk, about 400 bonbori (paper lanterns) painted by cultural figures and celebrities associated with Kamakura are lit on both sides of the approach and the yabusame horseback archery ground, and around the Maiden, softly illuminating the precincts. The festival originated in 1938 when members of the Kamakura Pen Club, formed by Kamakura literary figures, set up bonbori to introduce beachgoers to Kamakura's culture. In 1942, the Minamoto no Sanetomo Festival was established on August 9, the birthday of Minamoto no Sanetomo, and thereafter it became established as a series of rituals linking the Summer Purification Festival on the day before Risshu, the Risshu Festival on the day of Risshu, and the Sanetomo Festival. During the period, events are held daily. At the Summer Purification Festival, after a Shinto ritual to ward off evil spirits by the Genji Pond, a chi no wa kuguri (passing through a large ring) is performed on the approach, and the Summer Purification Dance is dedicated at the Maiden. At the Risshu Festival, bell crickets raised in the sacred grounds are offered, and at the Sanetomo Festival, there are dedications of tanka and haiku gatherings related to Sanetomo.