Kyoto Jidai Matsuri / Festival of Ages

The Jidai Matsuri (時代祭 in Japanese) is held annually in Kyoto on October 22. The festival dates back to 1895 and commemorates the transfer of the capital to Kyoto in 794, the 1,100 years that it remained the capital(until it was moved to Tokyo in 1868), and the finishing of the Heian Jingu Shrine where the procession ends.

The Jidai Matsuri is one of Kyoto’s renowned three great festivals, with the other two being the Aoi Matsuri, held annually on May 15, and the Gion Matsuri, which is held annually from 17 to July 24.

It begins with the mikoshi (portable shrines) of the first and last Kyoto emperors being carried to the Old Imperial Palace, whereafter a procession of approximately 2,000 then embarks on a five hour, 2 km route to the Heian Shrine, led by drums and fife bands. The participants in the procession wear period costumes representing styles during the time Kyoto was the capital, beginning with the modernized soldiers of the Meiji era, corresponding with the end of the Kyoto capital in 1868, back to the founding of the capital with characters from the Heian period.

Unfortunately the festival this year was overcast by dark clouds and casual showers every now and then. It didn’t really help to improve the mood of the actors and it showed a lot in the faces of the elderly actors (and there are a lot of them!) that they weren’t happy to walk around in the rain.