Travelling on a bus through Kyoto and staring out of the window I suddenly noticed all these people dressed in white. We jumped off at the next stop. It was quite a scene. They lifted and carried this 'box', which clearly weighed a great deal and shook it up and down as they went - all, of course, done with a great deal of noise. We'd read about ceremonies like this where the box is is believed to contain the soul of a holy being and is paraded to bless the neighbourhood but I have no idea if this is such a ceremony... do you know? What I found most interesting is that I've witnessed something very similar in Italy at a Catholic festival.