Imamiya Ebisu Shrine, Osaka

The Toka Ebisu festival is held all around Kansai, but no place does it bigger and better than Imamiya Ebisu Shrine. Every year, more than one million people make the pilgrimage from all over Kansai and beyond to Imamiya Ebisu Shrine to pray for success in business to Ebisu, the patron god of business and fisheries. Those hoping for his blessing in the new year buy lucky bamboo branches adorned with various lucky items such as special coins, sea bream, and rice bales all decorated by lovely miko (shrine maidens) dressed in white kimono with ornate golden headdresses. The three-day ceremony starts on the 9th on the Eve of Ebisu and the main parade takes place on the 10th.