Well, a couple of weeks ago I was extremely luck to participate in an Omatsuri and carry the Mikkoshi..
In May and the beginning of June, some temples in down town Tokyo (Kanda, Ueno and Asakusa area) hold Japanese Festivals every year. The main part of the festivals is to carry “Mikoshi” or watch many people carry “Mikoshi”.
“Mikoshi” is supposed to be a carrier for God of the temple come down to celebrates the festival.
People go around the town with carrying “Mikoshi” all day to show them around and go into a temple to be played for the year. The moment of “Mikoshi” going into a temple called “Miyairi” is the most exciting time for the festival. A lot of people get so excited and fight to carry “Mikoshi” for “Miyairi” time.
I was hoping to our pictures ready but we are still waiting for the photographer to pass them over. The day began at 8:30am where we all assebled to get changed into traditional outfits. It was an extremly hot and sunny day and I was told there will be rest stops every 20 minutes along the way…as japanese tradition has it the rest stops consists of copious amounts of beer and sake…. needless to say we were all getting well into it by 12… with only 5 hours left. As a taller than average person in Japan is was certainly carring more than my fair share of weight. I guess the Mikoshi would weigh aroung 200 kgs or more. with about 8-10 people seriously carring out of the 15 - 20 trying… I can tell you the it gets extremely heavy. Anyway we all had a great day, lots of drinking and dancing under the Mikoshi. It was a really big privalige to be invited and hope I get the invite next year.
If you go to see the festivals and can’t stand with only watching but want to join them, it might be a good idea to grave somebody who is carrying “Mikoshi” and ask them “I love to join you!!” in Japanese “Zehi Katsui De Mitai Desu!”, you might be able to if you were lucky for the day.
Good luck!!
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