A giant statue of Ebisu, the god of luck and prosperity, got its year-ending dusting off Wednesday at Osakiebisu Shrine in Mooka, Tochigi Prefecture.
The deity's statue, which measures 20 meters in height and is dubbed the "largest Ebisu in Japan," was cleaned by seven priests and priestesses -- some while standing on an elevating work platform.
As a sign of hope that the novel coronavirus will be brought under control, they used 5.67-meter-long bamboo brooms, as a combination of syllables from the words for 5, 6, and 7 are pronounced as "corona" in Japanese.
"This year we were at the mercy of the coronavirus, so we performed this task with the feeling that we are sweeping it away," said Naoto Kato, the 62-year-old chief priest of the shrine. "I pray that we can be smiling like Ebisu next year."
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