2,000 Kyotoites Don Historical Garb for Ancient Capital’s Last Major Festival of 2025

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:20 JST, October 23, 2025

Women in period costume playing two famous writers of the Heian period (794 to the late 12th century) — “The Tale of Genji” author Murasaki Shikibu and “The Pillow Book” author Sei Shonagon — are carried in a procession for the Jidai Matsuri Festival (Festival of the Ages) in Kyoto on Wednesday. The last of the city’s three major annual festivals, the Jidai Matsuri featured about 2,000 citizens dressed as historical figures from the Heian period through the Meiji era (1868-1912) as they paraded for 4½ kilometers from the Kyoto Gyoen National Garden to the Heian Jingu shrine. The procession was appreciated by about 43,000 spectators despite occasional rain, according to police.