You run, and you seize the year's fortune. In Nishinomiya, Hyogo, stands the head shrine of the three thousand Ebisu shrines across Japan, dedicated to the god of prosperity in business. On January 10, the Toka Ebisu festival is held. Most famous is the dawn of the 10th, the race to choose the year's "lucky man." At six in the morning the main gate opens, and the thousands waiting bolt forward, sprinting some two hundred and thirty meters to the main hall. The first to arrive becomes the fukuotoko. It is only running, yet for that first fortune people give everything; some fall, then rise and run on. The tradition began in the Edo period, said to have started when worshippers raced one another to be first. Fortune does not come to those who wait, it is something you run for and grasp. In Kansai, the new year begins with this festival.