Of all the events during the celebration of the Cherry Blossom Festival for two full weekends in San Francisco, there is nothing more interesting to me than watching the finale, the Taru Mikoshi Ren.

It is said that this has been celebrated during the festival for over 40 years and its mission is primarily to showcase the Japanese culture and to help preserve Japanese tradition in San Francisco.

When we watched it today, the participants were a great mix of races unlike in 2007 when we first saw it held. Back then all the participants were Japanese men. Today, there were even women who participated.

The Miksohi is a portable Shinto shrine in which a god or a diety is believed to reside. Many believe that by carrying it one gets rid of any curse that one might have and that shaking it would spread the benefit of god's power.

Back in 1967, it was carried by about 25 people. It has gotten bigger since then. It now has two layers of four sake barrels and the barrel on top now has an enormous Hoh Oo or Phoenix. Altogether, they weigh over 1000 pounds and require over 150 people to carry it. I thought that the participants all knew each other and came from some sort of a fraternity. Little did I know that participation in it is totally open to the public and is done on a first come first served basis on the day of the event.