Kanda Matsuri神田祭 · Kanda Matsuri

When it is held

The Kanda Matsuri (神田祭) is the festival of Kanda Myōjin (神田明神), the shrine that has guarded central Tokyo since the Edo period. Its full form, the honmatsuri (本祭), is held in mid-May of odd-numbered years. In even-numbered years the shrine holds a smaller kage-matsuri (陰祭) without the Shinkōsai procession or the mikoshi entry into the shrine; 2026 is one of those years. The annual grand rite (reitaisai) on May 15 is held every year.

The 2027 dates have not been announced yet. For reference, the 2025 festival ran from May 8 to May 15:

• May 8: the evening rite moving the deities into their palanquins.
• May 10: the Shinkōsai procession through Kanda, Nihonbashi, Ōtemachi–Marunouchi and Akihabara, joined from 3 pm by the tsuke-matsuri pageant.
• May 11: the Mikoshi Miyairi, when the neighborhood mikoshi are carried into the shrine one after another.
• May 14: a tea offering and Myōjin Noh.
• May 15: the reitaisai at 2 pm.

The Shinkōsai procession

The Shinkōsai (神幸祭) is a day-long procession of about 30 km that carries the shrine's three deities: Ōnamuchi in the Ichi-no-miya hōren (phoenix palanquin), Sukunahikona in the Ni-no-miya mikoshi, and Taira no Masakado in the San-no-miya hōren. It sets off early in the morning (about 7:40 am in 2025), stops for a rite at the Masakado-zuka mound in Ōtemachi and a midday rite in Nihonbashi, and returns to the shrine in the evening along Chūō-dōri and through Akihabara. The tsuke-matsuri pageant joins it in the evening at Mitsukoshi in Nihonbashi.

The neighborhood mikoshi

For many visitors the highlight is the Mikoshi Miyairi, when portable shrines from the parish neighborhoods are carried up to Kanda Myōjin to the chants of their bearers. The shrine grounds are packed for most of the day, so expect to queue and move slowly near the gate. Kanda Myōjin is a short walk from Ochanomizu and Akihabara stations.

History

Shrine tradition dates Kanda Myōjin's founding to 730, near today's Ōtemachi, where the Masakado-zuka still stands. Taira no Masakado was enshrined in 1309. Tokugawa Ieyasu is said to have prayed at the shrine before the Battle of Sekigahara, which he won on September 15, then the festival day. In 1616 the shrine moved to its present site, guarding the northeast of Edo Castle, and became the guardian shrine of all Edo (江戸総鎮守).

In the Edo period the procession entered the grounds of Edo Castle and was watched by the shogun and his wife, which earned it the name Tenka Matsuri (天下祭), "the festival of the realm". From the Enpō era (1673–1681) it alternated years with Hie Shrine's Sannō Matsuri, the other Tenka Matsuri.

After the Second World War the procession was renamed Shinkōsai and first held under that name in 1952. The San-no-miya hōren carrying Masakado joined it in 1987.