Miki’s Aki Matsuri, or fall festival, took place on Oct 8 and Oct 9. Festivities included a street filled with stands selling festival food, which not unlike a state fair back home, consisted of mostly fried items and desserts. Although the fried items are much less outlandish than what has become the norm in Oklahoma and Texas.
The main event at most fall festivals across Japan is carrying mikoshi, or portable shrines, through the city. In Miki, a number of different neighborhoods all carried their own mikoshi to the main shrine in the city. The shrines literally weigh thousands of pounds. Carrying them is a chore for the dozens of men that join in, and this is doubly so in Miki where a gigantic staircase stands between the road and the main shrine. This year represented the 900-year anniversary since the original main shrine was built. Coming from the United States, it’s hard to imagine a historical site that continues to be used for the same purpose 900 years after its inception!
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