geisha comb festival

A popular event amongst geisha-groupies is the annual comb festival. Held once a year, this festival celebrates the life and retirement of hair combs. "Lame," you may be thinking to yourself, and to an extent it was, but if you are unfamiliar with the long history of geisha and maiko, or have never seen the beauty of a geisha/maiko in person this is a highly recommended event.

The first thing we asked ourselves when we heard about the festival was why the hell would they need to have a burial (as it was called to us) for combs. Thankfully H-san explained to us, that any object a Japanese person possess for many, many years will be assumed to have a soul. This means that when it breaks or is too old to use, a burial ceremony is required to release the spirit.

During this festival, the actual ceremony is closed to the public, but the post-festivity parade is for everyone. You can also drop off your used or broken combs to the temple ahead of time and they will be a part of the ceremony as well.

The festival is held at Yasui Konpiragu Shrine at 1:00pm, at the end of September. The poor maiko/geisha were unbelievably hot in their silk gowns.

There is also a famous wishing stone at the shrine where people make wishes to end or start a relationship.

Bad luck omen slips being offered back to the temple. If you get a bad luck omen, this is how you keep it from coming true. 

Relationship stone, decorated with people's requests and names. Crawling through the stone is said to start or stop a relationship (depending on which way you go through). 

Anxious girls waiting to walk through the explanation area and on to the parade.

Explaination/Exhibit area. Each period walked through and then proceeded onto the parade. As you can see this is a insanely popular event, held at a tiny shrine. Go early for good viewing, or just plan to see them at the parade.