A Festival as the Soul of the Japanese – First Mikoshi Experience in My Life during the Sanno-Matsuri Festival, One of the Three Major Festivals of Japan[Shitamachi Rengo Togyo Part]

Click here for the former part titled “Advanced Preparation Part”

I participated in the Shitamachi Rengo Togyo on June 9, 2024 (Sunday), the last day of the Sanno-Matsuri Festival which was held on a full-fledged basis for the first time in six years.

Sixteen portable shrines called Mikoshi, which Yaesu, Nihonbashi, Kyobashi, Kayaba-cho/Kabuto-cho, Hacchobori, Edobashi, and Takara-cho　have, parade through the business area.

I joined the town council members of the present-day Yaesu side of Tokyo Station, an area called Himono-cho that had been always glamorous, with the employees of Tokyo Tatemono.

Sweat, spirits, and bodies rush between inorganic buildings!

I have always had goosebumps since the opening ceremony at Tokyo Square Garden.

The vast crowd made it difficult to control where the Mikoshi should go!

The Mikoshi nearly headed into the glass-walled part next to the main entrance of Nihonbashi Takashimaya…

“Watch out!” Whistle!!!!!!

“Don’t go that way!! If you break it, you will be in big trouble!!”

Cries and an announcement over a loudspeaker boomed out.

When the Mikoshi enters Takashimaya,

skill, power, and teamwork are necessary because the bearers have to hold its poles and enter Takashimaya in a semi-crouching position.

And the Mikoshi of Himono-cho is more difficult to do so because it is larger and heavier.

“Lower the Mikoshi a little more!!!” Whistle!!!!!

”Yes, slowly!!!” Whistle!!!!!! (for guiding)

The Himono-cho team members and people lining the path are holding their breath and watching it…

They did it!!!!!

The entrance to Takashimaya was filled with cheers, applause, and excitement.

Very awesome. Lifting the Mikoshi up in front of Takashimaya was extremely exciting, which made me get a burst of adrenaline and widened my pupils due to great excitement!!

I belatedly got the music festival bug during the COVID-19 pandemic (I started it through streaming), and got into the habit of enjoying music festivals and the exhilaration as if a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. According to my self-analysis, I concluded that I had not been able to go on a foreign tour due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which was my hobby, and therefore the way to release stress instead of foreign trips I had made before might change to music festivals.

I made a big discovery that people should essentially need to deviate from daily routines once every several years in order to live by pretending to be honest and therefore local festivals worked as infrastructures for maintaining the mental health of community people! (Huh?)

“Odoru Ahou ni Miru Ahou: Onaji Ahou nara Odoranya Son Son! (Dancing fools, watching fools: all fools, so let’s all dance!)”

You know the chant in the famous Awa Dance Festival says so.

“La Tomatina in Spain and the famous water fights of Songkran Festival in Thailand also look like fun and I want to join them”…

I haven’t ever felt so at all, but if I participated in them, I might get addicted to them dozens of times more than they look.

After participating in the Sanno-Matsuri Festival, I am likely to be thinking of this local festival, which I have usually thought it as just one of the news as one of my interests.

It is interesting for me to think that the urban area, which was swarmed with bearers of the Mikoshi portable shrines, has returned to a usual stylish business area and the Nihonbashi Takashimaya department store has gotten back to its normal self where madams and others are enjoying shopping in a leisurely pace.

It makes me feel as if only I knew what my lover looked like on their day off. (The second “Huh??”)

In closing, please let me express my heartfelt appreciation to all the people of Himono-cho and employees of Tokyo Tatemono, who let me join their members through this opportunity for this precious experience!