Kyoto's Jidai Matsuri goes ahead, with 2,000 people walking through a thousand years of costume

Kyoto's Jidai Matsuri, the Festival of the Ages, will take place on Thursday as scheduled. Heian Shrine, whose festival it is, announced early in the morning that the procession would go ahead.1

Around 2,000 residents in historical dress, together with about 70 horses, two oxen and several carriages, will walk a route of roughly two kilometres. The full procession takes about two hours to pass any one spot.2

Walking backwards through history

The parade runs in reverse order of time. It opens with the fife and drums of the late Edo period and moves back through the Momoyama, Muromachi and Kamakura eras to the Heian court of the 8th century. Along the way come costumed figures such as Oda Nobunaga, Murasaki Shikibu and Sei Shonagon.2

Route and timings

The procession leaves the Kenreimon Gate of the Kyoto Imperial Palace at 12:00 and is due at Karasuma Oike at about 12:50 and at Sanjo Bridge at about 13:40. It reaches Heian Shrine at around 14:30. City buses on several routes are being diverted between about 12:10 and 16:00.34

The festival dates from 1895, when Kyoto marked 1,100 years since the founding of the capital Heian-kyo. It is counted among the city's three great festivals, alongside Aoi Matsuri and Gion Matsuri.2

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