Morning glories or asagao are large flowers of various colors that bloom in summer morning. It is also enjoyable to grow and view them inpots. In Japan, many children experience growing them in elementary school. So, morning glories are one of the flowers people feel most familiar with. These days, more people use them as greenery sunscreen curtains for summer by letting their vines grow on window nets.

Iriya Morning Glory Festival (Morning Glory Market)

Date:  Jul. 6 – 8, from 5:00 to 11:00 Place: Kototoi-dori Street, centered around Iriya Kishibojin (1-12-16 Shitaya, Taito-ku) The street is lined with 60 morning glory vendors and 80 stalls. The festival bustles with an average of 400,000 visitors every year.

Chinese lantern plants or hozuki are also seen in summer. Their orange clusters, which are not flowers but inflated seed pod, contain orange-colored fruits. Lantern plants, just like real lanterns, are decorated during the Bon period (when the souls of the dead are believed to return home). In summer, lantern plant markets are opened in many places in Japan: In Tokyo, one held at Senso-ji in Asakusa is well-known; another held at Bishamonten Zenkoku-ji in Kagurazaka is tied up with Kagurazaka Festival in the neighboring shopping street.

Senso-ji Lantern Plant Fair	Date:  Jul. 9 – 10, from morning to late ate night Place: Senso-ji Temple (2-3-1 Asakusa, Taito-ku) The origin dates back to the Meiwa Period (1764-1772). The date of Jul 10th, called shiman rokusen nichi (46,000 days), is the most virtuous one of the twelve merit days set in a year because visitors on this day are said to have 46,000 days’ worth of merit.
Kagurazaka Lantern Plant Market	Date:  Jul. 25 – 26, from 5:30 to 22:00 Place: Bishamonten Zenkoku-ji Temple (536 Kagurazaka Shinjuku-ku)

 

July 5th, 2018
Edited by: Meguro International Friendship Association(MIFA)