福王子神社 神輿巡幸 仁和寺境内Every year on the third Sunday of October, the area of western Kyoto along the Keifuku rail line explodes with neighborhood festivals.
Within hearing distance are three:
Fukuoji Shrine Festival
Sumiyoshi Shrine Festival
Matsumiya Shrine Festival
Like a resident of a parish, you "belong" to one of these festivals depending upon where you live.
In our case, we live just on the edge of the Fukuoji Shrine festival area of Omuro.
And thus every October we don a white happi coat and go out to carry the portable shrine through the six "villages" that supply the men - no women carry the mikoshi portable shrine - for the day.
The festival gives thanks for the fall harvest and is a form of ancestor worship.
The portable shrine is stored all year at Fukuoji Shrine. It is brought out once a year for the festival.
During an 11 kilometer trek the portable shrine - and hundreds of men in white festival clothing - wends its way through western Kyoto.
The climax of the shrine takes place at Ninnaji Temple, the "parent" to nearby Fukuoji Shrine.
The portable shrine is carried up the steps of the main entrance - pictured above - and into the inner grounds of the temple.
There, in front of the head priests of Ninnaji and Fukuoji and several hundred onlookers, the mikoshi is raised aloft. To watch, click here.
After departing, the mikoshi is carried out of Ninnaji Temple, down its steps. There, once again, the two-ton shrine is carried for roughly 15 minutes.
A final "climax" takes place just prior to reentering Fukuoji Shrine.
Then the mikoshi is put away for another year.
© CycleKyoto.com
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