Saiō Matsuri — 斎王まつり

Between 658 and 1334 CE, every time a new emperor ascended the throne, an unmarried imperial princess was chosen by divination, ritually purified for three years in Kyoto, then sent alone to Ise to serve the Sun Goddess Amaterasu as her living representative. She was called the Saiō — the consecrated princess — and she could never marry, never return to the capital, and spoke to no man except through bamboo screens. The Saiō Matsuri, held each June in Meiwa, recreates the journey of these princesses in a procession of over 500 participants dressed in Heian court costume, walking the same route the historical Saiō took from her palace to Ise Grand Shrine.

The Saiō system was established in 658 CE during the reign of Emperor Tenmu, who decreed that an imperial princess must serve at Ise Shrine to strengthen the connection between the imperial family and Amaterasu Ōmikami, their divine ancestor. The chosen princess would leave Kyoto in an elaborate procession called the Gunkō, traveling for five days along the Ise Road. She would reside at the Saikū — the palace compound built specifically for her in what is now Meiwa — located halfway between Kyoto and Ise. From this palace, she performed rituals for the goddess while living in isolation with her 500-person court of female attendants. Sixty princesses served as Saiō over seven centuries. The system ended in 1334 when Emperor Go-Daigo was exiled during the Northern and Southern Courts period, and the practice was never revived. In 1983, Meiwa began the Saiō Matsuri to commemorate this history, using archaeological evidence from the excavated Saikū site.

The Saiō Matsuri honors Amaterasu Ōmikami, the Sun Goddess and supreme deity of the Shinto pantheon, who is enshrined at Ise Grand Shrine. Amaterasu is the divine ancestor of the imperial family and the embodiment of the sun itself. The historical Saiō served as her earthly attendant and intermediary, performing daily rituals and annual ceremonies on behalf of the emperor. The festival also venerates the memory of the sixty imperial princesses who served as Saiō, particularly Princess Ōku, daughter of Emperor Tenmu and sister of Prince Ōtsu, who served from 673 to 686 CE and is remembered for her poetry expressing profound loneliness. The Saiō’s role was to maintain cosmic order through ritual purity — she represented the emperor’s devotion made flesh.

The Princess Who Could Not Weep

Princess Ōku, the first historically documented Saiō, was twenty years old when her father Emperor Tenmu chose her by divination in 673 CE. Her younger brother Prince Ōtsu was executed for treason shortly after their father’s death, accused of plotting against the new emperor. Ōku learned of his death while serving at Ise but was forbidden by ritual law from expressing grief or wearing mourning clothes — to show death-pollution would defile the Sun Goddess. Instead, she composed poems in secret, including one preserved in the Man’yōshū: “My brother, I cannot even cross / the fields of Iware / to bid you farewell.” She served for thirteen more years in complete isolation before being released at age forty-one. The Saiō Matsuri recreates the moment of her departure from Kyoto, when she last saw her brother alive, not knowing it would be forever.

The festival centers on the Saikū Historical Museum and the excavated ruins of the Saikū palace compound in Meiwa, which covered 137 hectares and contained over 100 buildings during the Heian period. Archaeological excavations since 1970 have revealed the palace foundations, gardens, and thousands of artifacts including wooden tablets, lacquerware, and pottery. The museum displays a full-scale reconstruction of the Saiō’s residential quarters, showing the stark simplicity required by her ritual purity — white silk curtains, cypress floors, no decorative color. The procession route follows the ancient Ise Road from the museum to Takenomine Shrine, passing through rice fields that would have surrounded the original palace. The main shrine building at Takenomine, rebuilt in 1680, enshrines a deity of safe travel who protected the Saiō on her journey.

• Saiō Matsuri Main Procession (First weekend of June) — Over 500 participants in authentic Heian court dress recreate the Gunkō procession. The chosen “Saiō” for that year, selected from local unmarried women, rides in an ox-drawn carriage surrounded by female attendants in layered robes, court nobles, musicians, and guards carrying halberds. The procession takes three hours.
• Saiō Purification Ritual (Friday evening before the festival) — Participants undergo ritual purification at Takigahara Park, washing hands in sacred water as the historical Saiō did before departing Kyoto.
• Court Dance Performance (Saturday afternoon) — Bugaku court dances and music from the Heian period are performed at the Saikū ruins, the same arts the Saiō would have witnessed in her palace.
• Evening Lantern Walk (Saturday night) — Hundreds of paper lanterns line the procession route, and participants in simplified Heian dress walk by candlelight.

The first weekend of June, when the Saiō Matsuri takes place. The weather is usually mild and clear, ideal for the long outdoor procession. Arrive by 10 AM on Saturday to see the departure ceremony at Takenomine Shrine, where the “Saiō” receives blessings before entering her ox-cart. The most photographed moment occurs around noon when the full procession crosses the Miya River bridge, with Mount Asama in the background — the same view the historical princesses would have seen. The Sunday procession is shorter and less crowded. Outside festival dates, visit the Saikū Historical Museum year-round to see the excavated palace site and artifacts; spring brings plum and cherry blossoms to the ruins, creating a melancholy beauty appropriate to the Saiō’s story.