The Tenjin Festival is a spectacular boat festival held at the Osaka Tenman-guu Shrine in Osaka. Millions attend this epic event, known as one of the three great festivals of Japan, and also as the greatest boat festival in the world. It reflects Osaka’s mercantile, canal-centric history as Japan’s “city of water.” The Tenjin Matsuri’s history reaches back 1,000 years, and is dedicated to Sugawara-no-Michizane, who is enshrined and worshipped as the Tenman Tenjin, the god of learning and the arts. Needless to say, it is an important time for Osakans, and is a huge part of Osakan culture.
Some 3000 people dressed in gorgeous traditional imperial-court style of the 8th-12th Centuries march in a parade on the festival day of 25 July. Led by a portable shrine (mikoshi) housing the enshrined Sugawara no Michizane, the land procession (rikutogyo) heads towards the Nakanoshima area. At Tenjimbashi Bridge, the participants board some 100 boats for the boat procession (funatogyo), the climax of the festival. At dusk, the boats with countless torches and lanterns proceed from the Hokonagashi Bridge on the Dojimagawa River to Enokoshima, creating a spectacular pageant that passes in front of spectators and reflects beautifully on the water. The festival ends in the evening with a grand display of over 1000 magnificent fireworks (hanabi), marking a festival of fire and water. Other events include traditional Japanese performing arts such as kagura music, bunraku and Noh theatrical performances.
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