Heian Pastime Reenacted in Fukuoka; Poetry Composition Ceremony Participants Compose Verses, Drink Sake

The Yomiuri Shimbun

13:04 JST, March 4, 2024

A woman in a twelve-layered robe drinks sake from a sakazuki cup during the Poetry Composition Ceremony held at Dazaifu Tenmangu shrine in Fukuoka Prefecture on Sunday. The event reenacts an aristocratic pastime introduced from ancient China that was popular during the Heian period (794–late 12th century). On the day, people dressed in the clothes of ancient nobility sat beside a brook and tried to compose a poem before a cup of sake floating on the water went past them. They then picked up the cup and drank from it.