Decorated kumade bamboo rakes are sold early Tuesday during the Tori-no-Ichi fair at Ohtori Shrine in Taito Ward, Tokyo.
16:14 JST, November 5, 2024
The annual Tori-no-Ichi fair, in which participants pray for firm business and good fortune, began Tuesday at Ohtori Shrine in Asakusa, Tokyo.
This traditional fair is held every November on the days corresponding to the tori, or rooster, on the zodiac calendar. Tuesday was one of those days; the other two for this year are November 17 and 29.
As midnight drumming announced Tuesday, visitors who flocked to the shrine bought traditional good-luck souvenirs: kumade bamboo rakes decorated with various charms, such as snakes, which will be next year’s zodiac animal, and maneki neko that beckons cats.
Powerful cries of “hanjo, hanjo, hanjo,” repeating the word for prosperity, rang out across the shrine grounds.
“I came here to buy a kumade so that many customers will come to my house,” said Toshiya Mori, 34, who runs a sushi restaurant in Adachi Ward, Tokyo.
