Sanja Festival in Asakusa

The annual Asakusa Sanja Festival will be held this weekend starting May 19 till May 21,Sunday.On the first day of the festival Grand procession parade throgh the Asakusa area and the traditional Binzasara-mai dance are performed.
On the Second day , more than a hundred portable shrines "Mikoshi" are carried in a parade of local people heading for the "Sensou-ji"temple and the "Asakusa-jinja"shrine.The people who carried in a parade of local people heading for the "Sensou-ji" temple and the "Asakusa-jinja "shrine. The people who carry the "Mikoshi" are called "ujiko" who are specially blessed by the god of the shrine.The god is enshrined in the "Mikoshi" during the festival and travels with the "Mikoshi" to observe his territory. On the third day three giant "Mikoshi" start out from the "Asakusa-jinja" shirine and parade through the Asakusa neighborhood.
This parade which is the climax of the festival is called the "Miyadashi".Each Mikoshi,which is carried by about seventy people, weighs about a 1000kg. The three giant "Mikoshi" are parade along different routes to visit "otabisho(resting place for the god)"eventually returning to the "Asakusa-jinja"shrine in the evening.