The gorgeous mikoshi portable shrine with a prestigious 16-pedal-chrysanthemum crest, the same as the imperial family's, 40 dashi floats and horo-shishi (lion head with a large cloth) parade through the city’s main streets. This three-day festival attracts more than 400,000 people every year.
Why does the shishi (lion) bite your head? The purpose of "shishi-mai" (lion dance) is to drive away bad luck, evil spirits, famines and plagues. So, the shishi bites your head for a good luck. To get a lucky bite, have the shishi bite your head. It will take your head in the mouth and bite you for a good luck!
Hitachi no Kuni Sosha Gu Shrine 常陸国総社宮 has a legendary connection to the Japanese mythology based on one of the old Japanese chronicles the Hitachi no Kuni Fudoki (常陸国風土記) (721). At the shrine there is a sacred stone which says that Yamato Takeru no Mikoto (日本武尊) seated. Yamato Takeru is a legendary Japanese hero and appears in Kojiki (712), Nihon Shoki (720), Kogo Shūi (807) and also the Hitachi no Kuni Fudoki (常陸国風土記). According to the legend, he was one of the sons of Emperor Keiko, who was the 12th Emperor of Japan and reigned from 71 to 130 AD.
Interestingly, the godfather of manga Osamu Tezuka has an ancestral connection with Ishioka. Tezuka's life's work Phoenix (火の鳥 Hi no Tori) and Yamato Takeru one of the main characters in Phoenix are illustrated beside the sacred stone at the shrine. Also, Leo the white lion in Tezuka's Jungle Emperor (ジャングル大帝 Janguru Taitei) is the shrine's iconic character because the shrine's guardian deity is a pair of white lions (白獅子 shiro shishi).
For info about Hitachi no Kuni Sosha Gu Shrine 常陸国総社宮:
http://sosyagu.jp/about/
http://sosyagu.jp/about/
Video by Lifeisamt
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