Others carried burdens hung from poles balanced on one shoulder.

The hotels, restaurants, and other facilities at the top of the mountain are serviced and kept stocked by porters who carry resources up the mountain on foot, hanging their cargo from long poles balanced over their shoulders or backs.

The man had been carrying his belongings, his equipment for a new world, in two bundles supported from a pole balanced on his right shoulder.

He began performing at the age of 9 months, "when he was strapped into a bucket atop a pole balanced on his father's forehead," according to an exhibition wall label.

In one highlight, the Akita Kantou Matsuri, or festival of the Akita prefecture, more than two dozen performers will create a moving light spectacle as they walk with lantern-laden poles balanced on their backs, foreheads and palms.

Men edged past us carrying loads of hay or baskets of vegetables suspended from poles balanced across their shoulders.

"You'd be feeling so joyous and comfortable in the house," Mrs. Hall said, recalling how she loved to sneak under the quilt, which was stretched on thin poles, called horses, balanced on chairs.

The man had a long wooden pole across his shoulders, balanced on either end by live chickens unhappily hanging by their claws.

You are tromping past in clunky ski boots, sweating beneath a hard shell helmet, turtleneck and fleece; a heavy, gloved hand grasping skis and poles balanced on a shoulder.

Dong Zi (Shi Yu), honest and naïve, ekes out a menial living on the docks, carrying heavy loads on a pole balanced on his shoulders.