A first kumade at Hanazono Shrine’s Tori-no-Ichi
For her first kumade purchase, Haruru chose to start small. Her photographs from Hanazono Shrine capture the busy festival evening and the colourful displays around that one purchase.
From haruru.1002’s account shared in November 2024, edited with permission.
A busy festival evening in Shinjuku
Haruru went to Hanazono Shrine in Shinjuku on the eve of Ichi-no-Tori to buy a kumade, a decorated rake. She was struck by how many people were there, even on the festival eve.
One photograph looks up at rows of lit lanterns above the shrine building. Another looks across the crowded grounds, with more lanterns, trees and brightly lit stalls below. The pictures record the scene around her shopping visit.
Start with a small one
The stall photographs show many decorated kumade crowded together, with colourful figures, flowers and gold ornaments. For her own first purchase, Haruru decided on a small one.
Her photograph of the wrapped kumade shows little figures and gold decorations, with labels reading 家内安全 and 商売繁盛. Beside the busy shrine and stall pictures, this is the object at the centre of her short account: the first kumade she had gone there to buy.
Sources for this account
Haruru’s first kumade purchase at Hanazono Shrine, described in her account shared on 5 November 2024.