As the drums beat, a ritual is performed and the deity is transferred to the mikoshi. With the shouts of “Chousaja, Chosajya,” the mikoshi rushes down the stone steps and is vigorously paraded through the crowds filling the square. The mikoshi is lowered into the sea twice or three times, getting splashed with the Kuroshio Current, and when it comes ashore, it enters the Uraiso Otabisho (a rocky shore facing the bay) on the east coast. The priest then offers a prayer, and everyone on the island, from the elderly to children, passes under the mikoshi.