A Nice Local Activity Held At A Small Shrine In Takao Area, West Tokyo

In the connection I wrote about a historical site in Takao area (Hachioji City) in my previous post, I'd like to introduce a nice local community event in the same area. A small mountain near Takao Station on JR-Chuo-Line/Keio-line is designated as a green conservation zone by Hachioji-City. On the top of the mountain there is a tiny shrine called “Asakawa Konpira Shrine”. It is one kind of Japanese Shinto-Shrine.

Since the late 1980s, a monthly community activity named “Kompira-Picnic” has been held there on the first Sunday of every month (except August) although "picnic" is not a traditional Japanese activity. It would be very rare as an activity at an old Shinto-shrine. Moreover, it is an open event for everybody, to join it people need neither registration to the group nor reservation.

However there is only one requirement for the Kompira-Picnic which is "Bring your own food and drinks and share with others". Despite that, you are always welcome if you go there in the afternoon around lunch time. This picnic activity has been getting international people's attention and almost every time there are some foreign people as you can see in the photos. So People use both English and Japanese at the picnic.

At one time the picnic became quite popular and the shrine was full of people on every first Sunday, but unfortunately the number of participants has decreased in recent years. However, there are still many regulars and people enjoy talking and having a nice time with lots of good food and drinks. Of course tourists can also join this picnic. It's a fun activity!