Waiting for the sun. A popular religious custom in which a group of devotees meets at a member's home on certain days such as the 15th of the first, fifth and ninth months of the lunar calendar, remain awake all night and complete their devotions at sunrise. Since the Meiji period Shinto priests have usually been involved in himachi.
See also Tsukimachi.
A Popular Dictionary of Shinto. Brian Bocking.