Cherry Blossom Festival

Thought I'd post a couple of pictures from the annual Cherry Blossom Festival in SF, which is a celebration of Japanese culture. The festival was much larger than I expected and included many vendors, demos, food stands (spam on a stick made an appearance), plus a parade. You could catch lessons on how to make bonsai trees, origami, and (yum) sushi! George Takei (um, I mean Captain Sulu!) made an appearance during the parade. My picture of him turned out blurry so I won't post it here - drat! Near the end of the parade was a group of boys pulling this giant red one-eyed monster head (see below). Any guesses as to what it could possibly represent?