Roaring tiger graces Hachinohe shrine

The Yomiuri Shimbun

12:15 JST, December 31, 2021

HACHINOHE, Aomori — After the summer festival parade was canceled, a float of a roaring tiger was made to welcome worshippers visiting Ogami Shrine to ring in the New Year.

The 3-meter-long tiger, the Chinese zodiac animal for 2022, took about two months to complete by a local group of float creators in Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture.

Ogami Shrine is one of the city’s major shrines that hold a festival parade of floats in the summer. Due to the spread of the novel coronavirus, the parades in 2021 were cancelled for the second year in a row.

“It had been awhile since we made a float, so it was fun,” one of the creators said. “It was completed with a prayer for a quick containment of the virus.”

The float will be on display until Jan. 8.