Aoi-matsuri 葵祭り

“hollyhock festival”

The Aoi-matsuri is the oldest festival in the city of Kyôto – a procession that originated as early as the 6th century to appease the deities of the Kamo shrines. Dressed in costumes of the Heian period (794-1192), the procession moves quietly and leisurely upriver from the Imperial Palace to the “lower” shrine of Shimogamo-jinja and from here further north to the “upper” shrine of Kamigamo-jinja.