The Yoi Ebisu Festival, the ''Toka Ebisu Grand Festival'' to pray for business prosperity and family safety, was held on January 9, 2024 at Ebisu Shrine in Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto City. It was crowded with many worshipers looking for the lucky charm, ''Kiccho-zasa（meaning of lucky bamboo）.''
Ebisu Shrine is considered to be one of the three major Ebisu Shrines, along with Imamiya Ebisu Shrine (Osaka City) and Nishinomiya Shrine (Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture). The festival is also called ''Hatsu Ebisu'', which comes from the fact that the god Ebisu was born on January 10th.
As Kagura music echoed around the shrine grounds, worshipers came one after another after work and received bamboo leaves decorated with treasure ships, sea breams, and other decorations.
A 37-year-old man from Osaka who runs a restaurant in Kyoto City wished for a prosperous year, saying, ''Since the coronavirus pandemic has ended, the number of customers has increased considerably.I want it to be a year of great success.''
The festival runs until January 12th. On January 11th, there will be a presentation of bamboo grass by maiko.
