Japanese mikoshi (portable shrine), Asakusa festival, Tokyo, Japan

Close-up of Japanese *mikoshi* (portable shrine) which, according to Shinto belief, carries the spirits of deities around the suburbs during a *matsuri* (festival). *Mikoshi* are ornately decorated miniature shrines often with a carving of a phoenix on the roof. During the matsuri, people carry the mikoshi on their shoulders from the shrine around the surrounding neighborhoods that worship at the shrine.