［Kitano Tenmangu Shrine (Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture) is working on the revival of the "Kitano Festival" in preparation for the "Suga Goshinmyo 1125nen Han Mando Matsuri" in 2027, a grand annual festival to mark the 1,125th anniversary of the death of Sugawara no Michizane, the deity of the shrine. A new portable shrine to be paraded at the festival was recently completed, and the ritual was held on Tuesday, March 25.
According to records, the "Kitano Matsuri" was the most important festival at the shrine, and the procession of the procession, in which the deities were transferred to a portable shrine, was so solemn that it drew endless crowds of spectators. During the Muromachi period (1336-1573), the festival enjoyed its heyday under the patronage of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, the third Shogun of the Muromachi period (1336-1573), but was lost during the Onin War and other turmoil, and now only the ritual is performed.
Dozens of people involved in the revival of the portable shrine attended the ceremony, which was the first step in the revival of the shrine, and the "tsuchiuchi" ceremony, in which the roof of the portable shrine is struck with a wooden hammer, was held. The current portable shrine is only made of wood, but it will be decorated and completed in 2026. We look forward to the day when the festival, which has been handed down for many years, will be revived in this era of 2026.