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Sanja Matsuri of Asakusa or Sanja Matsuri is a festival of Asakusa Shrine in Tokyo. It is one of the most popular festivals of Tokyo and is counted among three major festivals of Japan along with the Gion Festival in Kyoto and Tenjin Festival in Osaka. This festival has been celebrated for centuries now, ever since the Edo period (1600-1868) and features processions of portable shrines in the old shitamachi (downtown) area in Asakusa. With AsiaRooms.com, you can know all about Sanja Matsuri, a symbolic festival of Tokyo, considered the biggest of Tokyo's traditional - Three Grand Festivals - . Asakusa Shrine's Sanja festival celebrations make for perfect Japanese cultural tableaux with boisterous traditional mikoshi (portable shrine) processions through the streets of Asakusa for a glorious three-day weekend. Soak in the verve and spirit of the festivity with plenty of drinking, dancing, music and other merriment. The festival is held at the Sensoji Shrine in Tokyo, which attracts over two million people to the streets during the festival. During the festival Shrine's kami (deities) are taken on a procession through the streets of the town in beautiful gold and black lacquer vehicles called mikoshi for the purpose of bringing luck, blessings and prosperity to the area and its inhabitants. Around 100 or more mikoshis are drawn through the streets of Asakusa during Sanja Matsuri, many of which are so large and elaborate that dozens of people are required to carry them. Young men full of vitality volunteer to bear the mikoshis, dressed in traditional festival costumes doing their best to make the journey as rough as possible as it is believed that the more the kami is shaken and thrown about, the more blessings will be bestowed on the neighborhood. Younger children participate in the miniature mikoshi processions. People from every walk of life and nook and corner of Japan join in the revelry of this Tokyo festival, be it geishas, musicians, dancers, children or even dogs, all attired in traditional coats. Another highlight of this festival is the open display of body art/tattoos by Tokyo's yakuza (Japanese mafia) - something that is usually against the law. It is only in the Sanja Matsuri of Asakusa that one can get a rare chance to see some of Tokyo's heavily tattooed gangsters under safe conditions. Though the gathering is overwhelming, it is far from chaotic and very good-natured, and there are several snacks and drinks stalls along the procession route for the visitors.
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