Every year on 22 and 23 November, a small shrine squeezed between office blocks in central Osaka gives out paper tigers. People queue for them. They hang them at home for the year to keep illness away. It's the Shinnō Festival, and it's where one of the two Osaka designs in our new SHŌWA 昭和 line comes from.
Shinnō Festival: quick facts
- What: the Shinnō Festival (神農祭, Shinnō-sai, also written Shinno Matsuri), the yearly festival of Osaka's shrine to the gods of medicine
- Where: Sukunahikona Shrine (少彦名神社), known locally as Shinnō-san, in Dōshōmachi (道修町), Chūō-ku, Osaka
- When: 22 and 23 November every year. In 2026 that's Sunday 22 and Monday 23 November, a national holiday in Japan
- Why tigers: paper tiger charms (張子の虎, hariko no tora) for good health, first given out during the 1822 cholera outbreak
- Getting there: about 5 minutes' walk from Kitahama Station, Osaka Metro Sakaisuji Line
What is the Shinnō Festival?
The Shinnō Festival (神農祭, Shinnō-sai, sometimes written Shinno Matsuri) is held at Sukunahikona Shrine (少彦名神社) in Dōshōmachi (道修町), Osaka. Locals just call the shrine Shinnō-san. It looks after two gods of medicine: Sukunahikona, from Japan, and Shinnō, the Chinese god of medicine and farming.
The shrine was set up in 1780 by the druggists of Dōshōmachi, the street where Osaka's medicine trade has lived for centuries. Walk it today and you'll still pass the head offices of Japanese pharmaceutical companies. There's a small medicine museum on the shrine grounds too.
Why paper tigers?
In 1822 cholera reached Osaka. The druggists of Dōshōmachi made a pill to fight it and handed it out for free, together with a small papier-mâché tiger charm, a 張子の虎 (hariko no tora). The tiger was meant to scare the sickness off.
Two hundred years later the shrine still gives out the tigers at the festival. They hang from a sprig of bamboo, and people take them home for good health through the year.
What I drew
When I started on Osaka for SHŌWA, I wanted an object from that street. Not a temple. Not a castle. Something a shopkeeper would have nailed to the wall.
So the tee is a Shōwa-era enamel shop sign, a 琺瑯看板 (hōrō kanban). Those signs were glass fused onto steel, made to survive decades of rain on shopfronts and station walls. Ours is for an invented tonic maker, 五都薬房 (Five Cities Pharmacy). The paper tiger sits in a red sun. Under it is a giant 力, chikara, strength, which is Osaka's virtue in 5C5V. Then the kind of line Shōwa tonic adverts were built on: 力をつける, build your strength.
The shop is made up. The street, the shrine, the festival and the tiger are real.
Osaka's other 力
Osaka got two designs in SHŌWA because I couldn't pick. The second is a sumo tegata: the handprint a wrestler presses in ink on a square board and signs for fans. Every March the grand sumo tournament comes to Osaka. Ours belongs to an invented wrestler, 五都山 (Gotoyama), with a red hand on a gold-edged board.
If you're going
Sukunahikona Shrine is in Dōshōmachi, Chūō-ku, about five minutes' walk from Kitahama Station on the Osaka Metro Sakaisuji Line. The festival runs on 22 and 23 November every year, and that's when the paper tigers are given out. Check the shrine or the Osaka tourist board for this year's times before you go.
Shinnō Festival questions, answered
When is the Shinnō Festival?
Every year on 22 and 23 November, at Sukunahikona Shrine in Dōshōmachi, central Osaka.
Why does the shrine give out paper tigers?
During the 1822 cholera outbreak in Osaka, the local druggists handed out a medicine for free with a small papier-mâché tiger charm. The tiger charm has been given out ever since as a wish for good health.
Who are the gods at Sukunahikona Shrine?
Sukunahikona, a Japanese god of medicine, and Shinnō, the Chinese god of medicine and farming. That's why locals call the shrine Shinnō-san.
What are the paper tigers called?
張子の虎 (hariko no tora), a papier-mâché tiger. At the Shinnō Festival they come tied to a sprig of bamboo as a charm for good health.
How do I get to Sukunahikona Shrine?
It is in Dōshōmachi, Chūō-ku, Osaka, about five minutes' walk from Kitahama Station on the Osaka Metro Sakaisuji Line.
Is 五都薬房 a real pharmacy?
No. 五都薬房 (Five Cities Pharmacy) is made up for the design. Dōshōmachi, the shrine, the festival and the paper tigers are real.
What does 力をつける mean?
Build your strength. It's the kind of line Shōwa tonic adverts were built on. 力 (chikara, strength) is Osaka's virtue in the 5C5V five cities.
The rest of SHŌWA
SHŌWA is six tees, one object from each of our five cities: a Sapporo miso ramen counter card, a 1958 Tokyo newspaper ad, a Kyoto tram ticket, the two Osaka designs and a Yokohama jazz café matchbox. The true stories behind all six are in The Shōwa Archive, and you can shop the SHŌWA collection here.
Every piece is printed for you when you order. It takes 2–5 business days to make, then 2–6 business days for UK delivery.
Sources
- Sukunahikona Shrine, Osaka Info (Osaka Convention & Tourism Bureau)
- Shinno-sai Festival, Metropolis Japan
Written by the founder of 5C5V. Every collection is built around five Japanese cities and the virtue each one stands for. Questions about a design, sizing or an order? Email matthew@5c5v.co.uk. It comes straight to me.
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