Tom & Kyoko in tea shop

Tuesday, 22 October. Today was the date of the Festival of the Ages (Jidai Matsuri) in Kyoto. This annual celebration started in 1895 to commemorate the 1100th anniversary of the transfer of the capital to Kyoto (794). We left Tom's at 11:00 and took the train and subway to Kyoto City Hall on Oike Street. The parade was to start at the Imperial Palace at 12:30 and would take nearly an hour to reach City Hall, so we had plenty of time to explore. Tom showed us some of the "native" shopping area. Tom and Kyoko took a break for tea in a tea shop. We couldn't believe the size of the tea cups, like soup bowls. 

Festival drums Ladling out sake & rice

As we continued our walk, we came across a number of special activities related to the festival. At one shop, a man was giving free samples of a Kyoto beer. A little further on, two men in costumes were feverishly beating a large drum. Just after that was a long table where young men were ladling out a sweet drink of sake and rice.

By now it was after 1:00 and we began looking for a place to watch the parade. As usual with parades, people were lined up several deep all along the route. But we soon found a place to stand in front of City Hall where we had a decent view. About 1:15 the lead units of the parade arrived.

As the name "Festival of the Ages" might suggest, the parade is designed to reflect the several different historical periods during the 1074 years that Kyoto was the capital of Japan (764-1867). The more than 2000 participants, wearing costumes of the different eras, appear in reverse chronological order (i.e., latest first).

Mounted police lead parade

Soldiers

Princess & retinue

Boat in old canal

The parade lasts for about three hours but, after watching for 45 minutes, we decided to have lunch. We went to a Chinese restaurant a short distance away. Afterward, we walked along a canal that once was the major means of transporting goods. It's still used some, as evidenced by a heavily laden boat we saw. 

We started looking for a taxi to take us to the Imperial Palace grounds so we could make a reservation to go there the next day. Unfortunately, the parade had now passed this point and the street re-opened. The traffic was horrendous. We finally flagged a taxi and, with some aggressive maneuvers, the driver got us to our destination.

Reservation for the tours within the Imperial Palace grounds must be made in advance at the administrative office there. There are two different one-hour tours available, the Imperial Palace and the Sento Palace. We were able to schedule both for the next day, one at 11:00, the other at 1:00.

We had an ice cream in the cafeteria on the Palace grounds. Then we took the subway to Kyoto Station where we did a little shopping. We were back at Tom's before 6:00.