Yabusame

The Yabusame Ritual, archery on horseback, is held every year during Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine's Reitaisai festival in September. Yabusame Ritual started in 1187 at the ceremony for the release of captive animals, a traditional Buddhist ceremony. Re-enacting the Yabusame of the Kamakura period, archers in period hunting costume gallop down a 260 meters track at high speed and shoot arrows at three targets one after another. Other events with origins in the Kamakura Period such as Jomashinji and Bugaku dance and music are also held at the shrine. *Yabusame is also held during the Kamakura Festival in April.