The Aoi Festival, the top of Kyoto's three major festivals, was held in Kyoto City on May 15, 2024. The ''Roadside Ceremony'', a procession of about 500 people in Heian costumes, was nearly one kilometer long and drew those watching from the fresh green Miyako Road into the world of an elegant dynasty picture scroll.
On this day, at around 10:30 a.m., the procession departed from the Kenreimon Gate of the Kyoto Imperial Palace (Kamigyo Ward, Kyoto City). The main procession consisted of ''Konoe Tsukaidai'' riding horses wearing silver masks, led by oxcarts decorated with horse riding haunches and wisteria. In the women's procession, a ''Saiodai'' dressed in a 12-hitoe costume, accompanied by a maiden carrying a flower umbrella, passed by in a special portable shrine called ''Oyoyo,'' and the onlookers watched. They all pressed their camera shutters all at once.
