Jidai Matsuri
Kyoto’s Festival of the Ages walks a 2,000-person costume procession from the Imperial Palace to Heian Jingu, reading Japanese court and city dress backward from the Meiji Restoration to the founding of Heian-kyo.
2026 dates
- Venue
- Kyoto Imperial Palace to Heian Jingu Shrine, via Karasuma, Oike, Kawaramachi and Sanjo
- Where to plan around
- Kyoto Gyoen, Oike-dori and Okazaki / Heian Jingu
- Access
- Street viewing along the route is free. Paid seats at Kyoto Gyoen, Oike-dori and Jingumichi are sold separately; the advance lottery has closed. Regular sales open 8 September. If the procession moves to 23 October, paid tickets remain valid and are not refunded for postponement alone.
- Official information
- Visit Kyoto City Tourism Association ↗
The Banquet note
Heian Jingu was founded in 1895 for the 1,100th anniversary of Heian-kyo, the capital Emperor Kanmu entered in 794. The first costume procession ran that October; from 1896 it settled on 22 October, the commemorative date of the capital transfer. The shrine later added Emperor Komei to the dedication. Kyoto City Tourism Association lists about 2,000 participants, including horses and carriages, in a procession that stretches about two kilometres and takes roughly two hours. It leaves Kenreimon at the Imperial Palace at noon, reaches Karasuma Oike around 12:50 and arrives at Heian Jingu around 14:30, moving backward through Meiji, Edo, Azuchi-Momoyama, Yoshino, Muromachi, Kamakura, Fujiwara and Enryaku dress.
Watch from the street if you want atmosphere; buy a seat if you want to read the textiles. Paid stands sit at Kyoto Gyoen for the departure, on Oike-dori mid-route and on Jingumichi near arrival. Some manabi and Otenmon seats include Japanese and English commentary through a phone browser. Do not treat the parade as the whole festival: shrine rites run from mid-October around the procession day. Recheck kyoto.travel on the morning of the 22nd before locking a rain plan.
Plan it well
Stay in central Kyoto or Okazaki. Arrive at your viewing point well before noon; good free positions fill early. Regular paid seats open at 10:00 on 8 September via ja.kyoto.travel. Pair the afternoon procession with dinner east of the river rather than attempting Kurama the same night unless you already know the Eizan timetable. The Shōsō-in exhibition in Nara opens two days later, on 24 October, if you still have a timed ticket.