Lucky Star Mikoshi Making the Rounds Soon
September 3rd, 2009 by Claytonian
The anime Lucky Star made the Washimiya shrine, which appears in the opening credits, famous among fans. There was also a mikoshi (a portable shrine that is carried around during festivals) made with the characters.
This year, on September 6th, the shrine will be back at the festival in 鷲宮町 (washimiyamachi) in Saitama. They are pimping it out with even more characters (up to 30 from the 19 last year) and doing other mods that have taken the weight up to 250 kilograms.
If you are in the area, this is a good way to otaku yourself out. Here’s a vid of last years events, filled with cross-dressing fans, if it’s too far a journey for you:
Contributor Bio: Claytonian blogs and vlogs about Japan, language, and news at The Hopeless Romantic. He writes for JibTV too.
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Reminds me of the Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei episode where they made fun of people who carry Mikoshi because they will celebrate anything.
Included in the things they carry in that episode for no apparent reason are: a blonde American girl, a girl whose hair is parted exactly in the middle, a hikikkomori(who probably loves the attention), and a girl who is spectacularly normal.
Widely ridiculed by otakus as an embarrassment and observed with a sort of horrified fascination by the public at large, yet supported by die-hard fanatics and sightseers. The most vocal complaints from observers decry the trampling of tradition and beautiful sights of the shrine by hordes of sweaty clamoring anime nerds, yet the town itself is complicit and taking an active role in catering to the fans for a revenue boost. All because an animation studio with a religious following decided to expand the story of a simple 4-panel comic into a full TV anime series and picked that shrine as the backdrop.
Truth is indeed stranger than fiction.
It seems they are trying to turn the cast of Lucky Star into Kami. Given the fact that almost anything can be worshiped to the point it becomes a Kami, I am not all that surprised. I liked Lucky Star too, just not that much.
I guess if I wanted to, I could turn Bugs Bunny into a Kami at my Shinto Shrine, but I don’t.
It brings in a ton of money and business from tourism and is generally a lighthearted (albeit pointless) affair. Aside from the slight connection to religion, I don’t see this as being any different from Tama the train stationmaster cat.