Sanja Matsuri

What to know

The 2026 Sanja Matsuri will be held from May 15 to 17.

The Sanja Festival (三社祭, Sanja Matsuri) is an annual event in the Asakusa district, usually taking place over the third full weekend in May. It celebrates the three founders of Sensoji Temple, who are enshrined at Asakusa Shrine next door. Nearly two million people visit Asakusa over the three days, making it one of Tokyo's most popular festivals.

The Sanja Matsuri features about one hundred portable shrines (mikoshi) that symbolically carry Shinto deities (kami) through the streets to bring good fortune to local businesses and residents. Smaller neighborhood mikoshi can be seen throughout Asakusa during the festival, while the three large mikoshi from Asakusa Shrine appear on Sunday. The entire area is packed with food stalls, festival games, and revelers enjoying a lively atmosphere of Japanese drums and flutes.

The festivities begin on Friday afternoon with the Daigyoretsu Parade, a large procession of priests, city officials, geisha, musicians, and dancers wearing Edo Period costumes. They proceed along Yanagi Dori to Sensoji Temple and Asakusa Shrine. A Shinto ceremony follows the parade, along with a traditional dance praying for abundant harvest and prosperity. In the afternoon, the first portable shrines (mikoshi) from Asakusa's local neighborhoods are brought out and carried through the streets, accompanied by musicians playing Japanese drums and flutes.

Saturday features the neighborhood mikoshi—nearly 100 from the district's 44 neighborhoods. They are brought out around noon and carried to Sensoji Temple and Asakusa Shrine to be blessed before returning to parade around their neighborhoods, spreading luck and prosperity. Many neighborhoods also have smaller children's mikoshi and women's mikoshi.

The events of Sunday begin at 7am when hundreds of revelers, grouped by neighborhood and wearing matching festival garb, gather at Asakusa Shrine and vie to carry one of the three large main mikoshi. The groups are highly competitive as they jostle to carry the mikoshi. Consequently, spectators are not allowed beyond Sensoji's entrance gates during this part of the festival due to space and safety concerns.