Kyoto Festival: Cultural Performances at Nashinoki Shrine (Hagi Matsuri)

During the hagi (bush clover) season worshipers at Nashinoki Shrine near the Kyoto Imperial Palace write poetry on pieces of paper and tie them to the numerous bush clover plants on the shrine grounds. A haiku society meets at the shrine before the main festivities in order to compose, but the main attraction of the festival is the variety of performances presented on the main stage over the course of four whole days. Nashinoki’s Bush Clover Festival offers more than most, presenting a program that includes ikebana flower arrangement, a performance of Ōkura style kyōgen, solo dance performances by several different schools of female dance, bugaku, musical pieces on shakuhachi flute and koto, as well as a kyūdō archery demonstration! Our team had the pleasure to capture some of the highlights of the festival period, and hope you have the chance to drop by and view it for yourself one day. There are not many other places you can treat yourself to such a wide range of cultural theater and arts, and the blo