Floats of Monkey, Cuckoo, and Minamoto at Akasaka Hikawa Shrine 赤坂氷川神社の山車（猿、閑古鳥、源頼義）

Japanese follows English. 英語の後に日本語が続きます。

I saw these floats at Akasaka Hikawa Jinja shrine in Tokyo. The right one is the float of a cuckoo, which represents peace, and the center is the float of a monkey, which was regarded as the messenger of God. The left one is the float of Yoriyoshi Minamoto (988 - 1075), a head of Japan's Minamoto clan. I went to the shrine this weekend for "hatsumode," i.e., the Japanese tradition of visiting a shrine or temple for the first time in the New Year, to avoid crowds, and happened to see such gorgeous floats!!😊

Many shrines and temples in Tokyo had such floats, but have lost many of them in the Great Kanto Earthquake and WW2, and due to the discontinuation of festivals. The Akasaka Hikawa shrine isn't an exception. It organized a parade of 13 floats to protect the community, but losing four, it currently has nine, including these three. (Source: Akasaka Float Preservation Society)   

I went to Kyoto (i.e., Japanese capital before Tokyo) once or twice a year before the pandemic and saw many floats in the Gion Matsuri festival, i.e., an annual event during July in Kyoto, which is one of the most famous and largest festivals in Japan using dozens of floats, but I didn't know that Tokyo also had similar events.

Floats of Akasaka Hikawa shrine; "Yoriyoshi (left)," "Monkey (center)," and "Cuckoo"
赤坂氷川神社の山車 左から「源頼義」、「猿」、「閑古鳥」

A monkey is on top of the right float 右が「猿」の山車

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赤坂氷川神社の「源頼義」、「猿」、「閑古鳥」の山車です。混雑を避けるために初詣を済ませるためにお参りしたところ、たまたま見ることができました！

祇園祭では多くの山鉾（つまり山車）を見たことがありますが、同じようなものが東京にもあったんですね。知りませんでした。もともとは13体あったそうですが、関東大震災、戦争、祭りの廃止などでや今は9体にまで減ってしまったそうです。

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