Copyright (c) Takeshi Nemoto Mikoshi OLYMPUS E-1 ZUIKO DIGITAL 14-54mm, F4 1/1600sec. ISO100 Held every three years, the Tomioka Hachimangu festival is a big event that raises the temperature in Fukagawa even more than the summer heat. Last year, 57 mikoshi (portable shrines) were paraded along the streets. As it's a kind of water festival, it's customary for local residents to throw water over the mikoshi as an act of purification. People throw water from second-storey windows along the route, the local fire brigade turns on its hoses, and there are trucks with big tanks of water at the street corners so that spectators can join in the fun.