Choyo Festival at Ichihime Shrine

Ichihime Shrine stands quietly a block south of Kawaramachi-Gojo and is unusual in Japan for enshrining five deities, all of them female; it has long drawn devotion as a protector of women. Choyo, among the five seasonal festivals, is the one that prays for the health and long life of adult women, which makes its connection with this shrine especially close. For the rite, chrysanthemums are offered before the deities and kiku-no-kisewata — silk floss laid over the blooms overnight to take up their dew and scent — is set out in the precincts. After the norito prayers, shrine maidens perform the Kikuju dance before the main torii to gagaku played by the shrine's own ensemble. On the day, a rare amulet called Kiku-no-onaka, containing red, white and yellow petals with floss, is granted to visitors. The shrine is also revered as a guardian of markets.