The Kitano Festival, a festival of Kitano Tenmangu Shrine, a World Heritage Site in Kamigyo Ward, Kyoto City, kicked off on October 1, 2025. A portable shrine called "Horen," carrying the spirit of the enshrined deity, Sugawara no Michizane, and other parades took place from Kitano Tenmangu Shrine to its temporary shrine (Nishinokyo, Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto City).
On the first day of the festival, the procession departed from Kitano Tenmangu Shrine at 1:00 PM. Over 100 parishioners, dressed in vibrant costumes, paraded through the town beating drums and flutes, arriving at the temporary shrine after a two-and-a-half-hour journey. At the temporary shrine, the Nishinokyo Zuiki Mikoshi Preservation Society, made up of local residents, presented a mikoshi-shaped "Zuiki Mikoshi," decorated with taro stalks ("zuiki") and other vegetables, in prayer for a bountiful harvest.
The Zuiki Mikoshi can be viewed at the Otabisho shrine until October 3rd, and will be paraded through the parishioner area on the 4th. The festival will continue until the 5th.
