The Mikoshi purification ceremony is conducted every year with representatives of the spiritual community of Japantown and also with representatives from Japan. The ceremony represents rites that helps bring peace and harmony to the areas of the Festival and that of the spirits embodied in the Mikoshi. Witness the Phoenix statue procession, purification ceremony, mochi pounding ceremony, and kagami biraki, the breaking of the sake barrels!
Kagami Kai is a Japanese traditional arts performance group based in San Francisco that demonstrates the mochi tsuki tradition and camaraderie with live taiko music and spinning of the mallets. This closely knit performing group has performed a mochi pounding ceremony since 1990.
At a future in-person Festival, the ceremony will be conducted before noon on the Saturday of the second festival weekend, a day before the carrying of the Mikoshi as the finale of the Grand Parade.
Meet Reverend Masato Kawahatsu of Konko Church of San Francisco in his Q&A blog, who has led the Mikoshi purification ceremony since 1972.