More Powell Street Festival 2007

Here are more pictures from this year's festival, including one of the very tired - but very clean, omikoshi guy.

Powell Street Festival 2007

Here are some pics from last weekend's Powell Street Festival. Well done to all those who came out and made this year's matsuri a memorable event. As the group prepared to raise the shrine, they "cleansed" themselves with sake - at the end of the day some were a little more "clean" than others. The shrine will be brought out again next year for the festival season. Until then....

Powell St. Festival

Omikoshi Vancouver group is scheduled to raise the shrine once again at the 31st Annual Powell St. Festival. Come out and shout "sei-ya" with them at 3:30pm on Sat. August 4th in the Demo Area, Oppenheimer Park; 400 Powell St. Vancouver.
Read more about the festival at www.powellstreetfestival.com

Powell Street Festival 2006

Here are some pictures from last year's festival.

Couldn't resist taking this last picture. Wonder if he'll be dressed like this again this year?? And to answer your other big question, he's wearing a loincloth - albeit a bit teeny......

Salmon Festival pictures

Here are some more pictures from this year's parade.

Otsukaresama deshita!

Steveston Salmon Festival, 2007

July 1st, 2007
Happy Canada Day!
The Omikoshi Vancouver group participated in the Steveston Salmon Festival Parade for the fifth year in a row. The group gathered at Garry Point Park in Steveston early this morning and wowed parade on-lookers as they carried the shrine on their backs down the parade route shouting "sei-ya! sei-ya!" all the way. Good Work and Happy Festival! A new addition this year was a portable taiko drum.
Next up the group will be at the Powell Street Festival in early August. More details to come....

What is Omikoshi?

A mikoshi (神輿、みこし) is a portable Shinto shrine. Shinto followers believe that it serves as the vehicle of a divine spirit in Japann at the time of a parade of deities. Often, the mikoshi resembles a miniature building, with pillars, walls, a roof, a veranda and a railing. Typical shapes are rectangles, hexagons, and octagons. The body, which stands on two poles (for carrying), is usually lavishly decorated, and the roof might hold a carving of a Phoenix.
During a matsuri, people bear a mikoshi on their shoulders by means of the two poles. They bring the mikoshi from the shrine, carry it around the neighborhoods that worship at the shrine, and in many cases leave it in a designated area, resting on blocks, for a time before returning it to the shrine.