Touka Ebisu and Dezomeshiki: Fun matsuri no one tells the foreigners about

On the 10th I had enough of staying indoors because of the cold, and I dragged a friend out to Yasaka shrine to see the sights and walk through the park, searching for signs of spring. Along the way, he asked if I knew about Touka Ebisu. I asked if it was 10 days of beer. He laughed, and said he would show me.

We went to Ebisu shrine in Higashiyama, along with just about every other person in the universe. It was bright, happy, and made me forget about the cold!

Ebisu is patron deity of merchants and one of the Seven Luck Gods. People go to this shrine on the 10th (actually, from the 9-12) to pray for a prosperous year. At the shrine you can buy all sorts of amulets and sasa for prosperity, and they are priced to match their power! So expensive!

The other matsuri is the annual firefighter event. It's held on different days every year, but always in the beginning of January. The video link here is for the 2014 event, but when a 2015 video appears on YouTube I will switch it out.

It's a cold but fun morning. It is held from 10-12 along the length of Heian jingu, and there are lots of seats available. The first half hour or so is just speeches, followed by a small parade of firefighters from each ward. (You can find out who your firefighters are on the Kyoto city fire department web page, in Japanese.) Then there is a demonstration of what firefighters do: trucks, extending hoses, saving people from burning buildings, helicopter flyovers and rescues, extending ladders to amazing heights and spraying hoses.

Note that while you can watch the parade from the south side of the street, you will be cleared out for the training demonstration, so it's best to find a good seat on the north side (the shrine side).