Kamakura's Unique Festival : Reitaisai Matsuri

From the 14th to the 16th of September, Kamakura welcomes a unique and quite famous festival that has been created centuries ago. It is the Reitaisai Matsuri which celebrates the ancient art of Yabusame, meaning archery while riding horses. The festival would supposedly come from the Heian era (794-1185) and kept on growing bigger and bigger, especially during the Edo period (1603-1868). In the times, Yabusame was tought to samurai to improve their skills at war. Nowadays, this art being very complicated and ancient, it is sadly gradually disappearing. Only a few schools still teach it.

Despite all of this, every year in Kamakura, the Reitaisai Festival gathers thousands of people. It is being held in the gorgeous temple of Hachiman-gu, created in 1191.

Wearing traditional Samourai's clothes, dozens of archers ride galloping horses on a 250m distance, trying to hit each targets of the path with their arrows. All of the contestants' arrows have been made in a way that you can hear them whistle in the wind. 
You will be amazed by the skills, the endurance and the strength showed by the archers during the festival.

The day after, many Mikoshi (mobile shrines) are carried by the shinto priests to the sanctuary and then throughout the whole city. Traditional music, usually taiko (traditional Japanese percussion) creates the rythm to the Mikoshi's parade.

But before all, the festival remains a religious ceremony which includes many rituals such as offerings to Kami (Shinto gods) and ancestral Shinto songs.

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