Kyoto's Aoi Matsuri Procession/Festival

On SaturdayMay 15th, we travelled by rail back to Kyoto to attend the city's annual "Aoi Matsuri" procession/festival that dates back to the 6th century.  The event - "one of the most solemn and graceful festivals in Japan" is named after the aoi (hollyhock) plant worn by procession marchers (511 people, 36 horses, 4 cows, and two carriages).  A flyer cautioned the public - "Please do not use flash photography for your safety.  Cattle might be stampeded by flash."

Hollyhock is a plant long-believed to ease child birth and ward off dangers of lightning and earthquakes.

We left the Kyoto rail station late morning and raced by foot through main streets and smaller routes through residential neighborhoods to a park where people were lined up 3-4-deep along the procession route.

Unfortunately the viewing area was also heavily shaded - not the best conditions for photos.  We took several photos as the procession passed anyway, but decided to move on to another location and better conditions in early afternoon.

We grabbed lunch at a little restaurant along the way - generous portions of ramen noodles and inexpensive to boot!

Got set up on the curb near an intersection where the procession was to pass.  Bright sun at our backs, but not overly harsh for early afternoon.  The procession arrived on time and all managed to get some nice photos of both the procession and street scenes of procession-watchers, etc.

The annual procession is part of Shinto religious tradition and the crowd was quiet, reserved and respectful throughout, responding to passing marchers with brief applause.

Following the passage of the procession, four of us slowly made our way back to the train station through heavily crowded streets to board a bullet train for a quick overnight trip to Tokyo.  More on that later.