Jidai Matsuri Festival

The Kyoto Jidai Matsuri (Festival of Eras) is held annually in Kyoto, Japan on October 22. The festival commemorates the transfer of the capital to Kyoto in 794 and was first held in 1895. It's main event is a procession of approximately 2,000 participants, embarking on a five hour, 2 km route to the Heian Shrine, led by drums and fife bands. The participants in the procession wear period costumes representing styles from throughout Kyoto's history, beginning with the modernized soldiers of the Meiji era, corresponding with the end of the Kyoto capital in 1868, back to the founding of the capital with characters from the Heian period.