Ah, Japan, where coal haulers give little kids nightmares. At least I think that’s a coal hauler, but I can’t read the Man’yōgana.

Rather than guess as to the meaning and purpose of it all, I emailed my blogbud Planetross (that’s his photo I stole). Plane lives near Tokyo, and responded with this:

Hey Bunk!

It’s just a dumptruck/large flatbed truck hauling dirt. The drawing/mural at the back of the cab is of Tengu (a mountain spirit). During the 3 day local festival in this city, 2 giant Tengu masks are carried around the city by about 50 women a mask.

The Numata Festival/Numata Matsuri is from August 3rd to 5th. If you click on the links at the bottom of that post, there are some photos of the giant Tengu masks being carried around.

The links he referred are here and here. And here is
The Overnight Open Thread.