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The Kyoto Jidai Matsuri (Festival of Ages) is held annually in Kyoto,
Japan on October 22. The festival commemorates the transfer of the capital
to Kyoto in 794 and was first held in 1895.
The Jidai Matsuri is one of Kyoto's renowned three great festivals, with
the other two being the Aoi Matsuri, held annually on May 15th, and the Gion
Matsuri, which is held annually from July 17th to 24th.
The festival was originally created to raise Kyoto's moral after the loss
of the capital and Imperial Court to Tokyo in 1868. 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
2000 then embarks on a 5 hour, 2 km route to the Heian Shrine, led by drums
and fife bands. The participants in the procession wear period costumes
representing styles from throughout Kyoto's history, 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.
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