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Hachioji, near Tokyo. Bearers of a mikoshi, or portable
shrine, at a Shinto festival. The mikoshi, in which resides the spirit
of a divinity, purifies the town through which it is carried. Made of carved
wood, sometimes crowned by an Otori or Chinese phoenix,
they can be of several tons weight. The bearers wear the short cotton happi,
and on their brows the head-band of resolution. At least one of the bearers
on this occasion seems to be a foreigner.
