Illuminating Fireworks of the Osaka’s Summer Festival
This exciting Osaka Festival or Tenjin Festival (Tenjin Matsuri) takes place around Osaka on July 24th and 25th every year. The festival honours Sugawara Michizane, the deity of scholarship and learning. It’s a celebration that has existed for over a thousand years starting in the year 951.
On the first day there are opening rituals that take place at the Tenmangu Shrine, with shishimai lions dancing and prayers for Osaka’s safety and prosperity. Once the rituals have ended, men in red hats play drums signalling that the festivities are starting.
The second day, Sugawara Michizane is moved from the shrine to a portable shrine, carried through the streets, and taken around the city to ensure Osaka’s prosperity. The day is full of wonderful processions starting on land and eventually ending on the river.
The parade is filled with ceremonial floats, traditional costumes and performances including lion dancing, traditional noh (ancient masked theatre) and bunraku (traditional puppet theatre) plays. The day concludes with a mighty one-and-a-half-hour firework display over the Okawa River, signalling the end of the celebrations.
Popular Foods During the Festival
From the streets to the stomachs, there are many tasty dishes from food stalls that are fresh and hot being sold during the celebration. These foods and dishes can be made easily at home as well!
Yakisoba - Japanese stir-fry noodles
Yakisoba, a classic Japanese stir-fried noodle seasoned with a sweet savoury yakitori sauce. Using chewy yakisoba noodles usually made with buckwheat flour, this dish can include a choice of meat from pork, chicken or shrimp. Then add some vegetables like daikon, mushroom and tofu for more tastes and textures. This noodle dish is made fresh and hot from a large hot plate in the stalls so that visitors can smell the food as it’s being cooked.
Takoyaki - Octopus in pancake batter balls
Takoyaki is another popular street food. Having a very soft texture with a savoury taste from its pancake-like batter to create the balls and a chewy octopus in the middle inside, other ingredients from green onion and other veggie bits can be put along whilst cooking or as toppings along with its sauce. Takoyaki can have multiple toppings including mayonnaise and a sweet takoyaki sauce, normal soy sauce or sweet soy sauce is also another good choice to go along with the food.
Kaarage - Crispy fried chicken chunks
Kaarage, is a savoury fried chicken and kaarage refers to a cooking technique of lightly coating the food in flour and deep-fried into oil. Commonly chicken breat chunks is used but fish and vegetables can be cooked this way too and create other crispy foods. Marinated with ingredients like mirin and oyster sauce allowing for a better taste on the dish and can be served with some rice and sweet or savoury sauces one of which can be a combination of mayonnaise, rice vinegar, lemon and sugar.
Yakitori - Grilled chiken skewers
Yakitori, refers to Japanese-style grilled chicken skewers. The chicken meat used in yakitori uses every part of the chicken from meat, organs and cartilage resulting in distinct textures and flavours. It can be skewered with some vegetables and grilled as its coated in a savoury yakitori sauce (a mixture of cooking sake, mirin, soy sauce and brown sugar) creating a shiny caramelized coat on the chicken.
Okonomiyaki - Pan-fried batter and cabbage
Okonomiyaki, is a Japanese cabbage pancake made with flour, tempura scraps, grated yam, dashi and eggs. These are mixed with shredded cabbage and some shrimp or squid. Topping with pork belly slices whilst pan-frying. Condiments such as okonomiyaki sauces, kewpie mayonnaise, dried seaweed and bonito flakes are put on top of the pancake adding flavour and texture. This dish can be changed to your taste as in the name okonomi means ‘as you like it’ ending with yaki ‘grill’.
A Festival Not To Be Missed
With so much to see and so much of the traditional Japanese culture to immerse yourself in, this is one celebration that should not be missed. So if you’re lucky enough to visit Osaka during the summer, spare a few days in your calendar to attend the festivities of Tenjin Matsuri.
