Hasedera Temple Toshi-no-Ichi Year-End Market and Kannon Mi-ashi Mairi

What Are the Toshi-no-Ichi and Kannon Mi-ashi Mairi at Hasedera?

Every year on December 18, Hasedera Temple (長谷寺) holds the Kannon Mi-ashi Mairi (観音御足参り), a visit to touch the feet of its main statue, and the Toshi-no-Ichi (歳の市), a year-end market. The 18th of every month is the ennichi (縁日), the monthly holy day, of the temple’s main statue, the Eleven-faced Kannon (十一面観音菩薩), and December 18 is the last one of the year. On the same day you can enter the naijin (内陣), the inner sanctuary of the Kannon Hall (観音堂), which is open only once a year, and browse the stalls of good-luck items along the approach.

Date and Time

The events take place every year on December 18. In a typical year, the Kannon-e (観音会) memorial service is held in the Kannon Hall from 10:00, and the Mi-ashi Mairi follows from late morning until around 19:30. Reception for the Mi-ashi Mairi is at the Kannon Hall from 8:00 to 19:00.

In a typical year, the Toshi-no-Ichi runs from around 10:00 to around 20:00. The regular entrance fee applies from 8:00 to 16:30, and entry is usually free from 16:30 to 19:30.

Highlights: Touching the Feet of the Eleven-faced Kannon in the Inner Sanctuary

The main Eleven-faced Kannon is 9.18 meters tall and one of the largest wooden Buddhist statues in Japan. During the Mi-ashi Mairi, you enter the inner sanctuary, which is normally closed to visitors, and touch the statue’s feet to deepen your bond with Kannon, the bodhisattva of compassion. You take off your shoes before entering, then wait your turn on chairs lined up in front of the statue. Seen from its feet, the statue looks far larger than it does from the usual place of worship.

When your turn comes, a monk guides you to a cushion at the statue’s feet. You kneel there, lay the tenugui (手ぬぐい), a cotton hand towel given by the temple, over the statue’s foot, and pray with your hand on it while the monk chants a sutra. The offering, called shinokin (志納金), is 1,000 yen, and you receive a gift from the temple.

Highlights: The Year-End Market and the Fukujuso Market

The Toshi-no-Ichi is a market selling good-luck items to welcome the New Year, and in Kamakura (鎌倉) it is held only along the approach to Hasedera. Stalls sell daruma dolls, kumade (熊手), decorated bamboo rakes for “raking in” good fortune, kamidana (神棚), small household Shinto altars, and other good-luck items, along with food stalls.

Inside the temple grounds, temple staff hold the Fukujuso-ichi (福寿草市), a sale of garden plants, in tents near the Kannon Hall. In a typical year, lights come on across the grounds after dark. On the 18th of every month, you can also turn the rinzo (輪蔵), a revolving sutra bookcase in the Kyozo (経蔵) sutra hall. Turning it once is said to bring the same merit as reading the entire Buddhist canon, the Issaikyo (一切経).

Visiting Tips

When you sign up for the Mi-ashi Mairi, you receive a numbered ticket, and visitors are guided into the inner sanctuary in number order. You can check how far the numbers have progressed at the Kannon Hall or on the temple’s website. If you have both your numbered ticket and your entrance ticket, you can leave the temple and come back later. In a typical year it is busiest from about 13:00 to 15:00, and even if you sign up in the morning, your turn may not come until the afternoon.

The Mi-ashi Mairi offering is paid separately from the entrance fee. Photography is not allowed inside the Kannon Hall. Because stalls line the approach, the temple parking lot cannot be used all day.

Access: Visiting During Your Stay at Toshi’s Place

Hasedera Temple is about a 5-minute walk from Hase Station (長谷駅) on the Enoden (江ノ電) line. From JR Kamakura Station (鎌倉駅), take a bus to the “Hase Kannon (長谷観音)” stop and walk about 5 minutes.

If you stay in Kamakura, you can head to the Kannon Hall at 8:00, when reception opens. Come back in the evening and you can walk through the lit-up grounds and the market during the free-entry hours. At Toshi’s Place, fully unstaffed smart hotels with full kitchens and no meals provided, you can explore Kamakura at your own pace.

Summary

On December 18 at Hasedera, you can touch the feet of the Eleven-faced Kannon during the once-a-year Mi-ashi Mairi and look for good-luck items for the New Year at the Toshi-no-Ichi market. For the temple’s usual highlights, see Hasedera Temple.

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