Kasuga/Wakamiya On-Matsuri, Nara

So i was browsing the event calendar of festivals in Japan and noticed the pompous sounding description of the On-Matsuri and thought ok, let’s bookmark that one and go have a look.

The On-Matsuri in Nara is held each year between December 15th-18th at the Wakamiya shrine (part of the Kasuga taisha shrine). Apparently the greatest attraction of the festival are concentrated on the 17th. The On-Matsuri is a festival held at Wakamiya-jinja Shrine which stands in the precincts of the Kasuga Taisha Grand Shrine. It was first organized in the 12th Century when an epidemic prevailed, and prayers were offered at this festival for the eradication of the plague and also for the blessing of a rich harvest.

On the afternoon of the 17th, they have one of those Jidai Gyrotesu (Procession of the Eras) similar to the ones in Kyoto and Tokyo (and probably some other cities). It’s a parade of 500 people and horses dressed in costumes from 9th to 19th century.

Unfortunately i was a bit late and only got to see the end of the parade. But as it happened the weather was again rainy like the last Jidai parade that i saw in Kyoto and the actors again didn’t look too motivated. I hope i will have better luck next year!

The procession ends at a little shrine where others then perfom kagura (music dedicated to the gods) and bugaku (court music accompanied by traditional dance) till late in the night. Here is some recording of that sound:

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And here are some snapshots of the festival:

 

Transport: The shrine can be easily accessed by foot from Nara train station. Just get out of the station and turn right in direction to Nara Park. Walk a kilometer along the road and you can’t miss it.

Website: The official website (all in Japanese) is the one of the Nara Prefecture tourism website. The Japan Tourism website also has some information about it.