Toshogu Shrine Children’s Peace Mikoshi Procession

Local children carry a portable shrine through the streets to commemorate a great samurai and a long held ritual, on the day before Toshogu Shrine’s autumn festival.

Neighborhood children commemorate the two and a half centuries of relative peace that followed the the victory of Tokugawa Ieyasu at the Battle of Sekigahara who is enshrined at Toshogu Shrine in Futaba no Sato.

For two centuries, Toshugu Shrine held a grand procession every 50 years after the death of Ieyasu, called the Toori-gosairei (Toori Festival). The last event was held in 1815, and was cancelled three times due to the chaos and wars of the late Edo period. In 2015, the festival was revived for the first time in 200 years as a procession symbolizing peace.

Inspired by the Toori Festival, the Toshogu Children’s Peace Mikoshi Procession is held on the day before the shrine’s Autumn Festival. As well as the carrying of a portable shrine, the procession incorporates elements of the Toori Festival, including the dance of the Kirinjishi, a sacred animal that only appears in times of peace.

Parade timetable

13:30 Pre parade performances at the north exit (upper level) of Hiroshima Station
14:20 Parade leaves from the north exit (upper level) of Hiroshima Station and makes its way to Toshogu Shrine
15:00 Parade arrives at Toshogu Shrine

11:00-16:00 Stall and events at Toshogu Shrine (matcha tea making etc)