2026 Kayashima Shrine Summer Festival / 令和八年 萱島神社夏祭り / Dedicated to my friend and colleague Inge...

This post started after talking with my friend and colleague, Inge. Since we probably wouldn't see each other for a while during the summer break, she asked me to send her a couple of pictures. So the nearby summer festival at the Kayashima Jinja gave me a chance to do some interesting photography and get a couple of good shots for Inge. I chose the two shots above because they illustrate the fun and crowded atmosphere of the night fair where people go to meet up with friends and buy delicious summer snacks and drinks. My photos feature my favorite festival treat, tamago senbei: a crisp shrimp cracker with a fried egg, savory sauce and mayonnaise. As I was enjoying my tamago senbei, many people around me were enjoying theirs as well. I hope you like these shots, Inge!

The shrine ・ 神社 ・ jinja

Of course, being a visual anthropologist, I wanted to do more in this post and show the context and components of this occasion to add to my several previous posts about the summer festival and other events at or near the shrine. Kayashima Jinja, while small, is famous because its primary deity is a large tree. When the Keihan Kayashima Train Station was constructed, it was built around the tree. The tree/deity is said to be quite powerful and generous, so it attracts a lot of people at new years, the setsubun celebration and summer festival. I have included a list of previous VAoJ reporting with more facts and observations at the end of this post readers and viewers who want more specific information.

This year, this sacred wood branch「御神木の枝」which is part of the camphor tree「クスノキ」at Kayashima Shrine considered to be a Shinto deity「神 ・ kami」was prominently displayed.

The local standing drink bar ・ 地元の立ち呑み ・ jimoto no tachinomi

For several years, this drinking establishment always sold corn-on-the-cob roasted in butter and soy sauce. I always looked forward to this treat. But recently the tachinomi was bought by new owners who decided not to sell it this year. Very unfortunate...

The night fair ・ 夜店 ・ yomise

An egg on a shrimp cracker with sauce ・ たまごせんべい ・ tamago senbei

Yum! おいしい! うまい!

The trash ・ ごみ ・ gomi

Yes, Japan is such a clean country... And who says there are no trash bins in public? And don't forget to seperate your recyclable trash...

Goodnight ・ おやすみ ・ oyasumi

It was probably too early when I limped back home struggling to carry my canes, camera and snacks. For many the party was just getting started... But for me, I needed to get home to watch the Hanshin Tigers baseball game.

Day 2: The portable shrine ・ 神輿 ・ mikoshi

Back in the day, the parading of the portable shrine or mikoshi, a large one for the adults and a smaller one for the children, to bestow the blessings of the local deity to the residents of the shrine parish, was grand, energetic and exciting. But in the last several years it has become smaller, mellower and easier; it seems more obligatory rather than fulfilling. This is due to demographic trends and shifts in most areas of Japan (i.e. decreases in birth rates and an aging society), a lack of interest and involvement in neighborhood events (much of the neighborhood has been gentrified and turned into a bed-town) and global warming (every year seems to be getting hotter and more humid). The COVID-19 pandemic certainly did not help. In other words, the majority of participants are older people along with fewer young adults and children willing and able to participate in a difficult, laborious and grueling undertaking under the hot summer sun. The adult mikoshi is now carried on a truck rather than the sweating necks and shoulders of strong, young men (and women). Culture changes. Humans need to adapt to a changing environment (ironically caused by the humans thmeselves...).

Previous VAOJ posts on the summer festival at the Kayashima Shrine:

Here is a list of VAoJ posts related to Kayashima Shrine. It probably is not a complete list, but hopefully these are good sources to explore to find more information. As this blog/website is organized by chronological date and time, these posts seem to be a mish-mash of discourses influenced by my observations, interests and personal circumstances during various ethnographic moments. In relation to the VAoJ website/project as a whole, it is interesting to see when I moved from theories, methods and work of others to my own (auto)ethnographic endeavors and productions. It is not so surprising that this change occurred around the time I obtained my Nikon D-700 camera. It is also interesting (and nostaligic in a way) to see pauses and breaks of my work due to injuries, hospitalizations, the COVID-19 pandemic and other important happenings. So rather than a mish-mash, VAoJ might better be described as a multimodal exercise, where one can explore the posts and put together various pieces of the puzzle that is the visual anthropology of Japan.

2013 summer festival in 5 parts:

Visual Anthropology of Japan, Local Matsuri I: The Mikoshi, posted July 30, 2013.

Visual Anthropology of Japan, Local Matsuri II: Evening Activities, posted July 31, 2013.

Visual Anthropology of Japan, Local Matsuri III: Tamago Senbei, posted August 1, 2013.

Visual Anthropology of Japan, Local Matsuri IV: People, posted August 2, 2013.

Visual Anthropology of Japan, Local Matsuri V: くわしく, posted August 3, 2013.

2014 summer festival

Visual Anthropology of Japan, Local Matsuri, 2014 Edition, posted August 17, 2014.

2018 tondo matsuri post

https://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2018/01/remains-of-2018-kayashima-shrine-tondo.html Remains of the 2018 Kayashima Shrine Tondo Festival, posted January 15, 2018.

2018 setsubun festival

https://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2018/02/2018-setsubun-shots-kayashima-jinjya.html 2018 Setsubun Shots @ Kayashima Jinja, posted February 24, 2018.

2018 summer festival post

https://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2018/07/kayashima-jinja-summer-festival-mikoshi.html Kayashima Jinja Summer Festival: Mikoshi Procession Viewed from the Cool(er) Convenience of My Window, posted July 31, 2018

2019 setsubun festival post

https://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2019/02/local-setsubun-celebration-at-kayashima.html Local Setsubun Celebration at Kayashima Shrine, Osaka, Japan, Feb. 3, 2019, posted February 3, 2019.

2019 jalan-jalan post on tachinomiya refurbish

https://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2019/06/jalan-jalan-68-neighborhood-tachinomiya.html Jalan Jalan (68): Neighborhood Tachinomiya Under Construction - a noren to protect the entrance and a cover for the whole building during renovation... posted June 19, 2019.

2019 jalan-jalan post on tachinomiya new signage

https://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2019/06/jalan-jalan-69-and-heres-new-signage.html Jalan Jalan (69): And here's the new signage for the neighborhood tachinomiya (I wish I could have been there for the unveiling...), posted June 24, 2019.

2020 new year's post

https://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2020/01/ringing-in-reiwa-2-kayashima-jinja.html Ringing in Reiwa 2 @ Kayashima Jinja, posted January 3, 2020.

2022 summer festival post

https://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2022/07/the-subdued-2022-kayashima-summer.html The subdued 2022 Kayashima summer festival - no children and the mikoshi is carried on a truck... posted July 24, 2022.

2023 new year's post

https://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2023/01/first-visit-to-kayashima-shrine-for-new.html First visit to Kayashima Shrine for the New Year 2023, posted January 3, 2023

2023 summer festival

https://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2023/08/kayashima-summer-festival-july-2023.html Kayashima Summer Festival (July, 2023), posted August 2, 2023

2025 summer festival post

https://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2025/07/kayashima-shrine-summer-matsuri-july-27.html Kayashima Shrine Summer Matsuri (July 27, 2025) / 萱島神社夏祭り（2025年7月27日, posted July 27, 2025.

2026 new year's post

https://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2026/01/kayashima-shrine-after-new-years-rush.html Kayashima Shrine 萱島神社 After the New Year's Rush, posted January 4, 2026.

Remains of the 2018 Kayashima Shrine Tondo Festival

Kayashima Shrine (萱島神社) conducted its Tondo Festival (とんど祭り) on January 15, to coincide with ko-shogatsu (小正月), or "small new year" - ko-shogatsu is a holdover from the time when Japan used a lunar calendar. This festival has many names (Dondo yaki - どんど焼き - is a common name but there are many others) and local variations. At the Tondo festival, shimekazari (a traditional New Years decoration hanged at the entrance to a house), omamori (good luck charms), ofuda (talisman), ema (votive tablets) as well as other religious or new year's related ornaments are burned. This is in effect a sort of recycling - these various ornaments are returned after a year or so of use and new ones are purchased.

I have previously written about the Tondo festival at the Shinto shrine in my neighborhood. (It is actually one of my favorite VAOJ posts - check it out!)

Visual Anthropology of Japan, Tondo Festival - とんど祭り, posted January 16, 2013.

I missed the actual burning this morning but I was able to see the ashes/remains when I visited the shrine in the afternoon. The religious paraphernalia were burned in the metal barrel and she ashes were occasionally dumped when needed. It seems that from the size of the ash heap many items were burned.

Here is a close-up of the remains in the barrel. A couple items seems to have been deposited after the burning ended.

These boxes placed by the entrance are for non-burnable items.

You can see some of the items deposited in the boxes. The mikan oranges were most likely a part of the shimekazari.

The Kayashima shrine is famous because there is a train station right above it. The kami-deity associated with the shrine resides in a large 700 year old Camphor tree. When the train station was being built, the tree could not simply be cut down. Thus the station was built around it.

The tree/kami is seen as especially powerful. Many people claim their wishes have come true after praying and giving a small cash offering. The shrine is small but contains a lot of interesting sights.

2018 is the Year of the Dog so it seems appropriate that the shrine would have this public service request: Please take your dog's poop home.

Previous VAOJ posts on the summer festival at the Kayashima shrine:

Visual Anthropology of Japan, Local Matsuri I: The Mikoshi, posted July 30, 2013.

Visual Anthropology of Japan, Local Matsuri II: Evening Activities, posted July 31, 2013.

Visual Anthropology of Japan, Local Matsuri III: Tamago Senbei, posted August 1, 2013.

Visual Anthropology of Japan, Local Matsuri IV: People, posted August 2, 2013.

Visual Anthropology of Japan, Local Matsuri V: くわしく, posted August 3, 2013.

Visual Anthropology of Japan, Local Matsuri, 2014 Edition, posted August 17, 2014.

Kayashima Shrine 萱島神社 After the New Year's Rush

Kayashima Shrine is close to my house and famous because there is a train station right above it. The kami-deity associated with the shrine resides in a large 700 year old Camphor tree. When the train station was being built, the tree could not simply be cut down. (There were many signs and messages directing that the tree not be cut including illnesses and the sighting of an auspicious white snake.) Thus the station was built around it. The tree/kami is seen as especially powerful. Many people claim their wishes have come true after praying and giving a small cash offering. The shrine is small but contains a lot of interesting sights and has many events through the year.

I have taken a lot of photographs at this shrine over the years. You can see some of them here:
https://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/search?q=kayashima+shrine

Special Bonus Ethno-Photo-Art