The Jidai Matsuri (時代祭 'Festival of the Ages') is 1 of Kyōto's '3 Great Festivals', along with the Aoi Matsuri (葵祭) in May and the Gion Matsuri (祇園祭) in July.
A little later Genji's wife, Lady Aoi (葵の上), has her servants maliciously shove Rokujō's carriage aside.
Utterly humiliated and filled with hatred, Rokujō's living spirit will later possess and kill Aoi!
The parade begins at 10:30am from the southern part of the Kyōto Gosho (imperial palace park). In total the 700m-long stream of participants will walk 8km.
It's estimated that this one event costs around 35,000,000 yen (about 320,000 dollars, 245,000 pounds and 284,000 euros).
There are now two main parts to the parade day: the procession, known as 'Rotō-no-gi' (路頭の儀 lit. 'Roadside Ceremony'), and the shrine rites, known as 'Shatō-no-gi' (社頭の儀 'Front of Shrine Ceremony’).
The other notable figure in the procession is the Saiō-dai (斎王代).
Once an unmarried imperial princess (that acted as priestess for the Kamo shrines), the Saiō-dai is now chosen from a respected local family. She participates in a handful of festival rituals.
Interestingly it was only after the Tokugawa’s assistance in reviving the festival that it became known as the Aoi Matsuri (葵祭).
Until this time is was known as the 'Kamo Matsuri' (賀茂祭), or simply as 'The Festival' (祭).
The Aoi Matsuri (葵祭) is named after the wild ginger leaves used as decoration (on clothes, headdresses and carriages) throughout the festival.
The tradition of displaying the leaves began with Kamo-no-Taketsunumi (賀茂建角身命), one of the gods enshrined at Shimogamo-jinja.
Following the Ōnin War (応仁・文明の乱 1467-77) the festival was suspended for over a century and a half.
The Tokugawa shōgunate helped revive the Aoi Matsuri, and it's believed that at this time the Tokugawa first adopted an aoi (wild ginger) leaf motif as their crest (三つ葉葵).
In response the emperor had special rites performed at the Kamo shrines (賀茂神社 - the current Kamigamo-jinja and Shimogamo-jinja) and miraculously the crisis abated.
Over time the rituals grew into a larger, two-week celebration, including horse races and a sumptuous parade🏇
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