Jidai-Matsuri

The Jidai Matsuri (时代 祭, Festival of the Ages ) is celebrated every year on 22 October in Kyoto, Japan.

This Matsuri commemorates the relocation of the Imperial capital to Kyoto in 794, and was first celebrated in 1895.

The Jidai Matsuri is one of Kyoto's renowned three great festivals, the others are Aoi Matsuri on May 15 and Gion Matsuri on the 14th - 17th July.

The festival was originally created to lift the spirits in Kyoto after the Imperial court and the capital was moved to Tokyo in 1868.

First, the mikoshi ( portable shrines ) of the first and last resided in Kyoto emperor be worn to the Old Imperial Palace, after which a procession of about 2,000 people goes with accompaniment by drums and five bands on the five-hour, 2 km route to the Heian Shrine. As seen through European eyes the mood of this move is rather sad. Apart from the instrument players, the move takes place at the deepest silence from both the performer and the audience.

Participants in the procession wear costumes that recall the various periods of history of Kyoto, beginning with the modernized soldiers of the Meiji period, which represent the end of the function as the capital in 1868, back to costumes of the Heian period.