🎎 Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine Yabusame Ritual

Every year from September 14 to 16, the three-day grand festival of Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine is held. The final day, the 16th, features the "Yabusame Shinto Ritual," which attracts numerous worshippers. "Yabusame" is a competition that combines horseback riding with archery, where archers shoot arrows at targets while riding at full gallop. It is one of the traditional martial arts and is known for its extreme difficulty, earning the title of "high-difficulty martial art." During the Kamakura period, Minamoto no Yoritomo, seeking "peace in the realm and stability in the nation," held Yabusame at Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine in the 3rd year of Bunji (1187), which later became a ritual that has continued for 800 years. Today, the autumn grand festival is performed by the Ogasawara school of horseback archery etiquette. During the Yabusame Shinto Ritual, one can witness archers dressed in Kamakura samurai attire galloping 140 ken (approximately 250 meters) while continuously shooting at three targets, allowing for an up-close experience of the valiant samurai culture.

The ritual held on September 16, the day after the Grand Festival, has a history of over 800 years and is a rare opportunity to understand samurai culture. It features performances by archers dressed in Kamakura samurai attire.