Photos: z tanuki · CC BY 3.0 (1, 5) · yamai36 · CC BY 3.0 · 掬茶 · CC BY-SA 4.0 (3, 4)
On the 25th of every month, Sugawara no Michizane's birth- and death-day, about 1,000 stalls fill Kitano Tenmangu and the lanes around it. With Kōbō-san on the 21st it is the city's original monthly antique fair.
Why it's unique
It is a dated local ritual: the fair falls on the day associated with the shrine's deity, every month, and residents treat it and Kōbō-san as the city's two monthly fairs.
Some dates carry more: January's Hatsu-Tenjin, February's plum festival with an outdoor tea ceremony served by Kamishichiken geiko, and December's Shimai-Tenjin.
Before you go
Pray at the main hall first, then shop; around 9:00 is the sweet spot, just after vendors finish setting up. Antiques and tea utensils are on the east side, plants on the west, and there are bulk "stuff-a-bag" used-kimono bins where haggling sometimes works.
25 January (Hatsu-Tenjin), 25 February (with the plum festival and an outdoor tea ceremony served by Kamishichiken geiko) and 25 December (Shimai-Tenjin) are the big days. The shrine's car park is closed on the 25th. Free, roughly 7:00 to dusk; take the city bus to Kitano Tenmangū-mae.
