The Inari Festival, the largest festival at Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine (Fushimi Ward, Kyoto City), which is said to have been going on since the Heian period, was held on April 21, 2024 in the area of Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine. Worshipers holding umbrellas watched as a truck carrying five ornately decorated mikoshi (portable shrines) departed for Otabisho (Minami Ward, Kyoto City).

A truck leaving Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine carrying a portable shrine wrapped in plastic to protect it from the rain (Fushimi Ward, Kyoto City)

At 11 a.m., a Shinto priest wearing a cedar twig from a sacred tree in his crown or eboshi performed a ritual in which he solemnly transferred the spirit of Inari Okami, which is enshrined within the shrine grounds, to a portable shrine. Shortly after 2 p.m., 12 trucks carrying portable shrines and Shinto priests left Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine, and the convoy passed through the vermilion-painted torii gate.

Shinto priests cover a divine spirit with cloth and transfer it to a mikoshi (Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine, Fushimi Ward, Kyoto City)

The mikoshi took about two hours to travel through parishioner areas in Shimogyo Ward and Minami Ward, Kyoto City, before arriving at the Otabisho. On April 28, parishioners carry the mikoshi and parade through the area, before returning to the shrine for the Kanko Festival on May 3.