"Saiou" means "an unmarried female relative of the Japanese emperor".
"dai" means "substitute" or "replacement".
This lady disguise herself as "Saiou" today for this event,
she is not a real Imperial relative,
so she is "Saiou-dai" and not "Saiou".
In ancient times,Saiou was sent to Ise-jingu Shrine in order to serve God.
On the long way to Ise-jingu Shrine,she accompanied so many escorts and guards,security police,asssistants to protect herself from enemies,and take care of herself.
It took them about 6 days to go to Ise-jingu (Mie prefecture) from Kyoto by walk.
This event recreates those ancient people's procession,and is held in October of each year.
Now she is performing the ritual ablutions(ritual purification) in Oi-River.
it was so slushy underfoot,
so we could only see them from far away. We couldn't see them closely.
I'm happy if you enjoy the atmosphere of the good old days of Japan and ancient noble people.
Again, an interesting re-enacting, Kumiko! Even if you were far from those who acted, you did nice pictures! I like especially the last one.
ReplyDelete@Traveling Hawk,
ReplyDeleteThank you,Traveling Hawk!
Yeah,I like the last picture,too. As you say,There are many mythic traditional ceremony like this in Japan. I'm happy if you enjoy it.
Thanks for posting this : such a lovely collection of costumes.
ReplyDelete@Walter,
ReplyDeleteThank you,Walter! I'm happy if you enjoy these photos.