May 12, 2014

Kameido Tenijn's Wisteria Festival, Part 1

 
The famed wisteria festival held every year at Kameido Tenjin shrine. 

The shrine is dedicated to Sugawara Michizane, the patron of scholars. It did not get its current name until 1936, but has been around since the Edo Period, in the mid-17th century. 

The wisteria festival, which consists of 100 wisteria trees creating 15 large roofs, runs from mid-April to the end of Golden Week (around May 6) every year. The shrine also holds a plum blossom festival every february and a chrysanthemum festival in November.

Their website gives you a daily update on the state of the flowers, a practice that many parks and shrines now follow. As of Monday, April 28, the flowers were at their peak. 

The wisteria are lit up from sundown to midnight, which would definitely be a beautiful sight. It may also be a great way to beat the crowds.

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