Start the New Year with Osaka’s Toka Ebisu Festival!

● Toka Ebisu Festival at Imamiya Ebisu Shrine

Literally “10th day Ebisu”, the Toka Ebisu Festival is always a big event!

The three-day event, held from January 9th to 11th, is known among the locals as “Ebessan” and large crowds gather every year to pray to the god of commerce.

Many come to Toka Ebisu to get lucky fukusasa or kumade bamboos that brings good fortune to your business.

Bamboo branches are handed out free of charge. Decorate them with special “kiccho” decorations to make your own fukusasa or kumade♪ Many businesses around Osaka store these objects year-round in a visible place, usually high up on the wall or shelf.

Listen for “Sasa wo motte koi!”—get your bamboos!—at Toka Ebisu and enjoy the festivities all day long✨

● Fukumusume Daughters of Fortune

The fukumusume, those young women in red hakama pants who hand out the lucky bamboo branches, are another highlight of the festival.

They are shrine maidens who serve as intermediaries between the gods and the visitors. During the three-day festivities, the fukumusume plays an important role in bestowing good fortune upon the large crowds of visitors from the gods.

Make sure to have a fukumusume tie a kiccho decoration on your bamboo branch if you buy one at the festival♪

The vibrant colors of the lucky fukusasa or kumade bamboos, combined with the shouts of the fukumusume, create a powerful, exuberant festival that truly embodies the energetic, colorful culture of Osaka.

● Street Food

And don’t forget about the food!!! Yatai stalls will be set up from the shrine grounds all the way to Namba Station. That’s about one kilometer long!

You will find all sorts of street food like takoyaki, cotton candy, and another Osaka favorite, ikayaki grilled squid.

What favorites will you discover in the one-kilometer lineup of yatai stalls?!

Some stalls offer seatings where you can relax as you savor oden, Japanese one-pot stew, paired with hot sake.

As the sun goes down, lanterns are lit and the yatai stalls glow brightly in the night, keeping the festivities alive well into the evening.

You can purchase fukusasa and request prayers from 7 a.m. to 1 a.m., while the shrine remains open 24 hours a day during the Toka Ebisu Festival.

Be sure to go a little earlier to purchase your fortunes or see the fukumusume as their hours are shorter. The fukumusume are there from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and the fortunes are available for purchase between 9 a.m. and 11 p.m.♪

On your trip home, we recommend a leisurely course through the streets lined with food stalls on the way to Namba Station.
We hope you will be able to experience this Osakan festivities in the new year!