On July 13, 2023, a "shrine visit ceremony" was held for the children of the Gion Festival Naginat-hoko (Shijo-dori Karasuma Higashi-iriru, Shijo-dori, Kyoto City) to visit Yasaka Shrine in Higashiyama Ward. Hikaru Taki, an 11-year-old child, rode on a white horse and visited the shrine in the occasional rain to pray for the safety of the parade of floats on July 17 before the festival.

Young children of the naginata-hoko float walking in the precincts of Yasaka Shrine during the Shasannogi (10:43 a.m., July 13, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto City)

Around 10:00 am, Mr. Taki mounted a white horse in front of the Kaisho and left. Led by his assistants, 11-year-old bald Sosuke Takada and 10-year-old Takuya Ishizumi, he headed east on Shijo-dori, looking straight ahead. About 45 minutes later, I dismounted in front of the South Romon Gate and ascended to the palace on foot.

Child of naginata-boko riding a white horse and heading to Yasaka Shrine (July 13, 10:03 a.m., Shimogyo Ward, Kyoto City)

At the main shrine, he was given a cedar guard, a sign that he had become a messenger of the gods, and was encouraged by the chief priest, Akiyoshi Nomura, to "dance the dance of peace so that you can live up to the expectations of the gods during the parade on July 17." At the end, he was strongly carried on his back so that his feet would not touch the ground, and left the main shrine.

After undergoing the shrine visit ceremony, the children are given the rank of ``Senior Fifth Rank, Major General'', which is equivalent to that of a daimyo with 100,000 koku, and are treated as ``God's messengers'' in the town.