Zuiki Festival, a festival held at Kitano Tenmangu Shrine (Kamigyo Ward, Kyoto City), began on October 1, 2023, to give thanks for the autumn harvest and pray for a bountiful harvest. A procession of glittering mikoshi and hoko floats called ``horen'' paraded for about three hours to Otabisho (Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto City).
The festival is said to have been held since the Muromachi period. It is said that the origin of this festival is that the Tenmangu shrine priests who lived in Nishinokyo decorated the crops they had harvested and offered them to Tenjin.
The Shinko Festival was held on the first day, October 1st, and around 300 parishioners dressed in brightly colored kamishimo costumes departed from Kitano Tenmangu shrine shortly after 1:00 p.m., accompanied by Dozan, the leader. The procession walked to the Otabisho while playing drums and flutes as people along the road watched.
At Otabisho, ''Zuiki Mikoshi'' covered with taro stems ''Zuiki'' and summer vegetables were assembled to the delight of onlookers.
On October 4th, during the Kanko Festival, the phoenix carrying the spirit of Sugawara no Michizane returns to Tenmangu Shrine. The Zuiki Festival runs until October 5th.
