"Hatsutenjin," or the first festival and street market of the year at Kitano Tenmangu Shrine in Kamigyo Ward, Kyoto, was held on January 25. In the precincts where blossoms of Japanese plum trees have just begun to bloom, street vendors opened their shops and the air was filled with the visitors' liveliness.

Kitano Tenmangu Shrine holds the festival and market on the 25th of every month, the date Sugawara no Michizane, the shrine deity, is said to have been born and died. "Hatsutenjin" in January and the year-end "Shimaitenjin" in December especially attract many visitors.

In the severe cold with a low of 0.3 degrees below zero in the morning, 1 degree colder than an average year, approximately 1,000 open-air shops lined the approach to the shrine. Older visitors paused at shops selling food, clothes and potted plants, hunting for inexpensively priced items, and many foreigners could be seen at antique shops.

People formed a line in front of the main hall of the shrine, then to put their hands together as they peacefully offered prayers. With the season for entrance examinations just around the corner, those praying for academic achievement or to pass their exams visited the place to hang votive wooden tablets on which their wishes are written.