Words of the day
祭り (matsuri) - Matsuri, festival
神社 (jinja) - shrine
お神輿 (omikoshi) - portable shrine

Summer in Japan is full of matsuri everywhere. This is also the case in Fukagawa, a district close to my apartment. I went to take a look.



The portable shrine they are holding is the famous portable shrine from the Tomioka Hachiman shrine. It looks like the shrine itself, and it is called an omikoshi. The meaning of carrying the omikoshi through the district is to have the spirit of the god of the shrine move through the district. This is a way to worship the shrine.

I went to the place where a change of teams was taking place. There is only one omikoshi in this area, and so many people who want to carry it. So groups are formed and people can carry the omikoshi over a part of the route. During the route, people from within the same group can also swap places, which is why you see a group of people following the omikoshi.