Saga Festival: The Return Procession

　Kyoto is bustling with festivals in May. Today is the Saga Festival Return Procession. It is a festival with such a long history that it is even recorded in the diaries of aristocrats from the Muromachi period. The portable shrine, which had been enshrined at Seiryo-ji Temple, is carried by nearly 600 people, accompanied by sword-spears and lion dances, on a procession through Kita-Saga’s Daikaku-ji Temple and Arashiyama. There are two portable shrines: one from Atago Shrine and one from Nonomiya Shrine. The portable shrine in the photograph, clad in red, is from Atago Shrine, whilst the one from Nonomiya Shrine is clad in purple.

　The sound of the bells on the sword-spear is another highlight. It is said that the metallic clang produced when the bells strike the poles or swords has the power to purify the path taken by the deities and ward off evil spirits.