We attended a yabusame- archery on horseback or as the announce put it "the sacred horseback-riding." I was there to watch the riding and the archery skills but it turns out that this is a religious ceremony (I should have known since it was held at a temple). The event started at 1:00pm. They had to drink some sake, bless the riders, swear allegiance to the Shinto religion, and ride. Everything but the riding took an hour and 15 minutes!
I kept thinking that Clint Eastwood could drink a little sake, pray, swear, and hop on his pony in about 15 minutes. Anywho, I love horses and it was fun to watch once the riding commenced. I mostly enjoyed the crowd's reaction as the horses and riders thundered past. Since the Japanese are mostly city slickers who take trains, buses, and cars, they were very impressed by the motion and violence of the horses.
The priests, riders, and attendants-
Walking the riding track to check for safety-
This grey horse was magnificent but I'm partial to greys.
The actual riding-
That's the best I can do photo-wise because this was a sold-out event (so to speak since it was free). It was held in Kamakura, a slightly out of the way spot. I was floored to see how many people came! We were lucky to get as close as we got.
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