Sensoji Temple Hozuki-ichi Fair Fashion

Sensoji Temple in Asakusa is the oldest – and one of the most famous – Buddhist temples in Tokyo. It’s well known for its iconic five-story pagoda and massive gates. For over 200 years, on the 9th and 10th of July the shrine hosts a festival called Hozuki-ichi, or Shiman Rokusen Nichi (Chinese Lantern Plant Fair). Hundreds of stalls are setup outside of the temple and vendors sell “ground cherry”, a type of Chinese Lantern plant that’s supposed to bring good luck. It is said that if you pray at the shrine on July 9th or 10th, it will bring you as much luck as if you visited the shrine 46,000 times on other days. Pretty lucky, eh?

So, what does all of that have to do with Tokyo Fashion? Well, we made a visit to the Hozuki-ichi at Sensoji Temple today and took photos of the fashion being worn by the vendors selling the Chinese Lantern Plants. This is a very old festival, dating back over 200 years, so the people selling the plants generally wear traditional Japanese fashion (or traditional-inspired at least) – kimono, yukata, and other traditional Japanese clothing.

While we usually cover modern Japanese fashion, streetwear, etc., we thought it would be fun to show you some pictures of another side of Japanese fashion – what people were wearing at the shrine. We hope you don’t mind.

Traditional-inspired Japanese fashion mixed with Hello Kitty and an eye patch:

Sales girls hawking their lantern plants to passersby:

A friendly group of plant sellers wearing tabi shoes:

Smiling girls with lantern plants:

Best fashion of the fair – Winnie The Pooh apron and a Minnie Mouse hat with signs sticking out the top:

A picture of one of the Sensoji Temple gates:

We hope you’ve enjoyed this traditional Japanese fashion detour. Now, back to our usual contemporary Japanese fashion updates.