Although the Shogunate’s seat was located in Edo during the Edo Period, the Imperial Palace was in Kyoto. Because of that, the Shogunate would always dispatch “Jōshi,” daimyō delegations, to courteously attend important Imperial ceremonies. These feudal lords employed many retainers on their travels. This daimyō procession displays such a retinue, boasting the largest number of people of any procession in the Jidai Festival.

At the head of the line you will see a group doing a street performance. They hold every viewer’s attention as they hurry the procession along in brilliant style. Many other lines follow, and at the very end you will find the leading man: a jōshi astride his horse. This is said to be the largest and most high-class of all the daimyō processions by far – in fact, the number of people has reached 1,700 in the past.

Just how did the townsfolk of the day view such processions as this?