Ikegami Honmon-ji

OESHIKI — Night Festival at Ikegami Honmonji
O-​Eshiki is a Buddhist festival commemorating Saint Nichiren, who passed away at Ikegami on October 13,1282. It is celebrated from 11^th to 13^th. (
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Many people visit this festival from all over Japan, so Tokyu train runs special schedule, some of bus route changed or canceled near Ikegami area.

Ikegami Honmonji Temple — huge treasure property of traditions, especially the yearly Oeshiki Festival held over 700 years!
My family attend Oeshiki every year in fall especially my lucky kid got to carry the highlight of Oeshiki –MANDO which means 10,000 sacred lanterns in Japanese, decorated with cherry flowers — from Ikegami Station to the main temple which is about 2 kilometers. Every year 3,000 people carry Mando and 300,000 people attend this Buddhist festival to commemorate the anniversary of Saint Nichiren’s death around 700 years ago. Actually it is celebrated in many places all over Japan, but Ikegami Honmonji hosts the most prestigious one since Saint Nichiren passed away here. The atmosphere is sacred in the main temple and Mando parade, while it’s crowded and happy outside the main temple area, where is surrounded by food booth, and all restaurants (even convenience store) in neighborhood offer special set at special price.
Just a littlle reminder, the mando parade starts around 6PM (mando looks super pretty and mysterious at night!!). Feel the heat of this sacred festival!

About 15 minutes from the nearest station, but you definitely should come here. You can see many Japanese graves which might be interesting for foreign travelers. And I want you to see is the cool five-​storied pagoda and the observatory. From observatory you can see Mt Fuji if the weather is good, and Haneda airport and other cities around Tokyo. They are all free. If you wanted to eat something, there are some restaurants and shops down there. This is a kind of a small park and you can be relax and take a walk. On New Year’s Days especially, there are some performance with a monkey or magic. They are awesome. Don’t miss them.