A mikoshi is a portable Shinto shrine. Shinto followers believe that it serves as the vehicle of a divine spirit in Japan at the time of a parade of deities. These elaborately decorated mikoshi are very heavy. This requires a few dozen people to heft and carry it on their shoulders by means of two to four large poles.
During a matsuri, or Japanese festival, people carry the portable shrine around the neighborhood. At certain festivals, the people who bear the mikoshi wave it wildly from side to side.
Each fall the City of Yokosuka and Fleet Activities Yokosuka (our Navy base) sponsor a mikoshi parade. This festive event begins in the city, processes down the main street, and then enters the Navy base. Interspersed among the various mikoshi, carts or vehicles carry taiko drummers whose rhythmic percussion provide a fitting accompaniment to the festivities. Most impressive, however, is the enthusiasm of the people, from the very young to the very old, in a typically Japanese show of community spirit and enjoyment. The faces and feet tell the story far better than words can.
We are truly privileged to live among such joyous and wonderful people and to experience their culture and traditions.
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