Toka-Ebisu Festival

This festival, in which prayers for business prosperity are offered up, is held at the beginning of the year in Osaka and is highlighted by a parade of hoe-kago palanquins

Beginning in the middle of the Heian era, Osaka’s Imamiya Ebisu-jinja Shrine offered fresh fish as gifts to the Imperial Court. After a fish market opened nearby at the west gate of the Shitenno-ji Temple the god Ebisu became the guardian deity of the area. Since then, people have developed an abiding faith in the deity, and they visit the shrine to pray for prosperity in commerce. Hoe-kago palanquins dedicated to Ebisu brighten up the festival, and during the three days it is held from January 9 to 11, the shrine is bustling with nearly one million visitors.

Ebisu: The guardian deity of the fishing industry and a symbol of the fortune produced by the sea. Ebisu is depicted with a sea bream under his left arm, and a fishing pole in his right hand.