Thursday, October 22, 2009

時代祭(jidai matsuri): Festival of Ages

There are three well-known festivals in Kyoto. One is Aoi Matsuri (葵祭) in May, the other is Gion Matsuri(祇園祭) in July, and another is Jidai Matsuri(時代祭) in October.
October 22 is the day of Jidai Matsuri(時代祭), Festival of Ages. It is a festival of the costume procession from the Heian era (平安時代) to the Meiji era (明治時代). About 2,000 people parade dressed in authentic costumes representing various periods and characters in Japanese feudal history for about 5 km for 3 hours. The procession line itself is about 2 km long. They start from Kyoto gosho(京都御所), the Kyoto Imperial Palace and end in the Heian jingu (平安神宮), the Heian Shrine.
The festival started in 1895 to commemorate the 1100th year of the relocation of the capital to Heian (平安遷都), Kyoto. It is the 105th festival this year.

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