A Festival for Local People

Hikawadai is usually particularly quiet and boring, but today is different because it's festival time. The whole area around Hikawadai Shrine, which is just behind the house, is now a crowded open market with stalls selling snacks and toys. A complete contrasted to the normal, peaceful, residential atmosphere. Excited voices, traditional music and traders' shouts drift up to my window making a pleasant change from the normal sounds of everyday life. The stalls in the street are for kids, the real fun for us adults are the mikoshi (or portable shrine) procession and the outside bars that have sprung up wherever there is space for a few tables. These temporary bars are ideal spots from which to watch the mikoshi as it travels around the neighbourhood, so that the god enshrined inside can extend his protection to all us locals.
The highlight of the day is when the mikoshi is carried back to the shrine. The reason why it's carried probably dates from the Edo Period when wheels were banned as a security measure, but today it just adds to the fun and is loved by the Japanese because it involves working as a group. This is certainly the case as the mikoshi is shoehorned through the crowded narrow streets, accompanied by rhythmic music, dancing and chanting. Finally, the swaying mikoshi is manhandled to the shrine so that the god within can return to his permanent home.
The festival is then suddenly over, well not quite because everyone starts chatting, smoking and drinking. And this is the whole point of these festivals, they are not religious and taken seriously as a Western equivalent would be, but are an excuse to have a good time and build relationships with those that live around you.