F E S T I V A L ／ FEST-218

Fukagawa Hachiman Festival (Water-Throwing Festival)

深川八幡祭り（水かけ祭り）ふかがわはちまんまつり（みずかけまつり）

The grand festival of Tomioka Hachimangu Shrine in Koto, Tokyo, is one of the "Three Great Festivals of Edo" alongside the Kanda Matsuri and the Sanno Matsuri. In the "main festival" held once every three years, the combined procession of district mikoshi sends some fifty portable shrines weaving through the old downtown of Fukagawa. Its defining feature is the unrelenting purifying water that spectators hurl at the bearers with buckets and hoses, soaking the mikoshi, the carriers, and the crowd alike—earning it the nickname "Water-Throwing Festival." Under the blazing midsummer sun, the cluster of golden mikoshi advancing through flying spray to chants of "wasshoi" is a spectacle in which sacred purification and festive exhilaration become one. The year 2026 marks the 400th anniversary of the shrine's enshrinement, and the combined mikoshi procession is held on Sunday, August 16, in this main-festival year.