Kandamyōjin Festival Entertainer Ranking (Kandamyōjin Sairei Banzuke)
1861 (Bunkyū 1) Tokyo Shiryō Collection 332-C20

The fifteenth day of the ninth month of the lunar calendar is the day of the Kanda Festival, the greatest of the major festivals of Edo. This illustration depicts the floats (dashi) in ranking form.


The Kanda Festival is nowadays held in the middle of May. You can see crowds of people march through the streets bearing mikoshi (palanquins), but in the Edo period this did not take place in the fifth month of the lunar calendar but in the ninth month of the lunar calendar and dashi floats outnumbered palanquins.
Because those in the parade were permitted to enter the castle grounds and the Shōgun watched the festival, it was, along with the Sanno Festival, also known as 'Tenka Festival' ('Festival for the whole country'), and whereas the Sanno Festival was held to pray for Edo Castle's safety, Kanda Festival sought the safety of the city of Edo. In other words, the Kanda Festival was the Edo townees' festival.
Kanda Myojin Shrine still serves as the principal tutelary shrine of 108 neighborhoods which include Kanda, Nihonbashi, Akihabara, Otemachi, Marunouchi, the old Kanda market and the Tsukiji fish market and continues to offer protection over the city.

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