New Year Fes 2020 (Part II)

Welcome to the night view of this year’s New Year Fes.

On the last day of the festival, we decided to visit at night. Due to nearby parking areas being full, we had to park near Sone Station, which is a station away. We then walked and arrived at Hattori Shrine at half past 7.

What we first did was that we got in a long line which led to the arcade. The line was long since it was Saturday.

It took us ten minutes to pass the gate.

The lanterns tastefully illuminate the night.

Unfortunately, at the end of last year, one of our employees sprained his legs, so we wanted to wish for his knees to get better. However, we were tired to wait in such a long line, so we went to an open square.

At the open square, the festival was vivid with all the lighting!

We discovered that all the lucky charms were close to being sold out. We were especially surprised because the most expensive ones (costs hundred thousand to two hundred thousand yen) were out of stock! By the way, the ones we purchased cost eighteen thousand yen. We can see that it’s better to purchase our favorite lucky charms at the very first day of the festival.

The shrine maidens rang the bells for those who purchased large sized lucky charms.

The Osaka clap was being held during the festival. This may be a sign that this year will be a good one.

We got to visit the hitting board again. There were many people hitting the board at night.

Coincidentally, we visited the festival on this year’s very first full moon. The moon brightened the night above the aisle.

There were some people praying silently.

Here are a bunch of photos of the shrine maidens. Hope you enjoy.

Thanks for reading!

Click here for New Year’s Fes 2020 (Part I).