The first major festival in the new year, Tōka Ebisu is held at Kyoto Ebisu Shrine over a five-day period from January 8th to the 12th. The enshrined god, Ebisu, is one of the Seven Lucky Gods and considered the god of fishermen and commerce. The festival is based around Ebisu's birthday on the 10th- hence the name Tōka ("Tenth Day") Ebisu. Though the religious ceremonies are primarily performed before the main hall out of sight from visitors, numerous goings on occur on the shrine grounds on each day as people flock to the small Gion area shrine in order to pray for success in their businesses for the coming year.

A lively festival, locals and tourists alike mingle to pray, purchase lucky charms for the coming year to display in their businesses, and enjoy the tasty festival food stalls gathered in the area while Ebisu's song rings out intermittently. In front of a small altar a shrine maiden performs sacred kagura dances to bless branches of leafy green bamboo for parishioners to receive and other maidens are quite busy helping people select which lucky symbols they wanted to attach to the stalk. On certain days women in traditional clothing, (one day actresses, one day maiko), arrive at the shrine to pass out the lucky bamboo. Depending on what day you participate you can watch a variety of rituals such as mochi making, a palanquin procession, and the presentation of a lucky fish.

For a more detailed schedule of the festival events each day, check Discover Kyoto here: [ Ссылка ]

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