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Exploring Tenjin Matsuri in Osaka

Posted at age 36.
Edited .

The day after the Kyoto Gion Matsuri, Patton and I traveled to Osaka for another festival, the Tenjin Matsuri, and to meet up with my friend Chakib, who is from France but who lived in Japan when I did in 2014. Getting to Osaka from Kyoto takes about 30 minutes by train. Man do I love that about Japan.

Anyway, we just made these plans the day before when I was chatting with Chakib on Facebook. We decided to try meeting the next day. Patton and I left the Kyoto hotel around 14:20, got to Osaka Station at 15:02, then took train to Temma Station by 15:15. The Tenjin Matsuri takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25. Chakib told us the main thing started at a place called Osaka Tenmangu ( 大阪府大阪市北区天神橋2-1-8). He said “tenmangu” is a generic name for a type of Shinto shrine, so he had unfortunately gone to two different wrong places first. But Patton and I worked our way down via walking in another long indoor mall type road called Tenjinbashi-suji Shopping Street.

Walking through Tenjinbashi-suji Shopping Street on the way to the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, taking place around the Tenmangu Shrine every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

Walking through Tenjinbashi-suji Shopping Street on the way to the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, taking place around the Tenmangu Shrine every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

Deep fried corn on the cob and other things. Walking through Tenjinbashi-suji Shopping Street on the way to the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, taking place around the Tenmangu Shrine every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

Deep fried corn on the cob and other things. Walking through Tenjinbashi-suji Shopping Street on the way to the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, taking place around the Tenmangu Shrine every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

Another small mikoshi goes by. Walking through Tenjinbashi-suji Shopping Street on the way to the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, taking place around the Tenmangu Shrine every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

Another small mikoshi goes by. Walking through Tenjinbashi-suji Shopping Street on the way to the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, taking place around the Tenmangu Shrine every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

If you need an Oakland ball cap, go pick one up at the Tenjinbashi-suji Shopping Street in Kyoto, Japan.

If you need an Oakland ball cap, go pick one up at the Tenjinbashi-suji Shopping Street in Kyoto, Japan.

Walking through Tenjinbashi-suji Shopping Street on the way to the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, taking place around the Tenmangu Shrine every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

Walking through Tenjinbashi-suji Shopping Street on the way to the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, taking place around the Tenmangu Shrine every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

Walking through Tenjinbashi-suji Shopping Street on the way to the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, taking place around the Tenmangu Shrine every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

Walking through Tenjinbashi-suji Shopping Street on the way to the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, taking place around the Tenmangu Shrine every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

We reached the shrine grounds, but it was super packed with people. We could tell there was a procession going around the nearby streets, so we tried to get close enough to watch for a while before looking for Chakib. I think Patton and I tried a couple of different vantage points for a few hours before we coordinated with Chakib by shared location on Facebook. It worked out, though our communications were spotty due to many people, bad signal, and he was using a pocket WiFi data connection.

The tengu, a mischievous supernatural being, passes by. We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

The tengu, a mischievous supernatural being, passes by. We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

They are very prepared with the signs! We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

They are very prepared with the signs! We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25. Note the sign on the right says commercial photography requires an application.

We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25. Note the sign on the right says commercial photography requires an application.

I really appreciated the beer and liquor vending machines in Japan, especially as we were watching the festival near the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka for a few hours in the 95 degree weather!

I really appreciated the beer and liquor vending machines in Japan, especially as we were watching the festival near the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka for a few hours in the 95 degree weather!

I wish the Unite States would adopt beer vending machines. It was so nice on such a hot and sweaty day.

I really appreciated the beer and liquor vending machines in Japan, especially as we were watching the festival near the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka for a few hours in the 95 degree weather!

I really appreciated the beer and liquor vending machines in Japan, especially as we were watching the festival near the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka for a few hours in the 95 degree weather!

Participants taking off their head dresses to get a drink, kind of like a marathon aid station. Much needed in the 95 degree heat I'm sure! At the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

Participants taking off their head dresses to get a drink, kind of like a marathon aid station. Much needed in the 95 degree heat I'm sure! At the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

We had a schedule of events and understood the next thing was going to be a boat procession of supposedly 10,000 people on boats. We didn’t know where to do for this, so Patton asked some police officers using Google Translate.

We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

Around the bridge where we watched some of the boats, we met back up with Giuseppe.

We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

These fan jackets are everywhere in Japan. We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

These fan jackets are everywhere in Japan. We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

This was a "10,000 person" boat procession at the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

The four of us then went to watch the fireworks, which was a bit of an adventure. There were so many people that the public safety strategy was apparently to keep people moving. We basically followed a crowd back and forth across various bridges along the river, where they had one lane open for emergency vehicles and officers on megaphones everywhere telling people to keep moving. That did take away from the festive atmosphere, and I’m not sure I would want to do this again. But I’m glad I got to witness the spectacle of it all. The fireworks were actually pretty cool, being fired from many locations along the river. And moving around constantly did change my vantage point. There was an ever present conflict with the officers, though, as people wanted to stop and take photos. Sometimes we ended up in a big mass of people who were stopped, but otherwise I didn’t feel comfortable going against the grain just to take photos.

We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

We checked out the major annual festival called the Tenjin Matsuri, which takes place around the Tenmangu Shrine in Osaka every year since 951 on July 24 and 25.

After we were tired of that, we all went to get dinner at a monjayaki place. We ate at もんじゃ つづみ, Monja Tsuzumi. From Wikipedia:

Monjayaki (もんじゃ焼き, often called simply “monja”) is a type of Japanese pan-fried batter, popular in the Kantō region, similar to okonomiyaki, but using different liquid ingredients.

Dinner with Patton, Chakib, Giuseppe at もんじゃ つづみ (Monja Tsuzumi). They specialize in monjayaki or monja, a type of Japanese pan-fried batter popular in the Kantō region, similar to okonomiyaki, but using different liquid ingredients.

Dinner with Patton, Chakib, Giuseppe at もんじゃ つづみ (Monja Tsuzumi). They specialize in monjayaki or monja, a type of Japanese pan-fried batter popular in the Kantō region, similar to okonomiyaki, but using different liquid ingredients.

Dinner with Patton, Chakib, Giuseppe at もんじゃ つづみ (Monja Tsuzumi). They specialize in monjayaki or monja, a type of Japanese pan-fried batter popular in the Kantō region, similar to okonomiyaki, but using different liquid ingredients.

Dinner with Patton, Chakib, Giuseppe at もんじゃ つづみ (Monja Tsuzumi). They specialize in monjayaki or monja, a type of Japanese pan-fried batter popular in the Kantō region, similar to okonomiyaki, but using different liquid ingredients.

Dinner with Patton, Chakib, Giuseppe at もんじゃ つづみ (Monja Tsuzumi). They specialize in monjayaki or monja, a type of Japanese pan-fried batter popular in the Kantō region, similar to okonomiyaki, but using different liquid ingredients.

Dinner with Patton, Chakib, Giuseppe at もんじゃ つづみ (Monja Tsuzumi). They specialize in monjayaki or monja, a type of Japanese pan-fried batter popular in the Kantō region, similar to okonomiyaki, but using different liquid ingredients.

Dinner was delicious! Then we went to sleep, with Chakib crashing at our hotel in Kyoto so we could spend the next days together.

Dinner with Patton, Chakib, Giuseppe at もんじゃ つづみ (Monja Tsuzumi). They specialize in monjayaki or monja, a type of Japanese pan-fried batter popular in the Kantō region, similar to okonomiyaki, but using different liquid ingredients.

Dinner with Patton, Chakib, Giuseppe at もんじゃ つづみ (Monja Tsuzumi). They specialize in monjayaki or monja, a type of Japanese pan-fried batter popular in the Kantō region, similar to okonomiyaki, but using different liquid ingredients.

Next up, the bamboo forest of Arashiyama in Kyoto!

Entries in this series

  1. Japan reunions, hedgehogs, my first capsule hotel (July 22-24)
  2. Kyoto: Gion festival and a hillside run (July 24-25)
  3. Exploring Tenjin Matsuri in Osaka (July 25)
  4. View from Daihikaku Senkōji Temple, and Arashiyama Bamboo Grove (July 26)
  5. Deers of Nara, then Uji and Fushimi Inari (July 27)
  6. A walk from Kyoto to Lake Biwa (July 28)
  7. Touring Osaka Castle, Umeda Sky Building, Osaka gay bars (July 29)
  8. Running around Osaka, Kobe, leaving Japan (July 30-31)
  9. Another delightful but very short Japan excursion (August 14)