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USOKAE (BULLFINCH EXCHANGE) AT KAMEIDO TENJIN SHRINE
| Every year on Jan. 24 and 25 Kameido Tenjin Shrine, Koto-ku Uso is the name of a bird (bullfinch) and homonymous with a Japanese word for lie. This association lead to a belief that by changing (buying) wooden carved bullfinch dolls, the bird changes uso or lies (bad things) into makoto or truth (good things) in the new year - cancelling the previous year's misfortunes to new year's good fortunes. January 25th is the day of Hatsu Tenjin (the first fair of the year of the shrine). Ohayashi (shinto music) from 9 a.m., and Okagura (shinto dance) and Shishimai from around noon will be performed. URL: http://kameidotenjin.or.jp/ Nearest Stn: Kameido on the JR Sobu Line. 15 minutes walk. from the station. 03-3681-0010 |