- 14 Mar 2002
- 21,050
- 18,903
This year, five lucky foreign visitors will have the chance to dress as samurai , ride horses, and accompany a feudal lord on 3 May during the 52nd Kameoka Mitsuhide Festival. The Kameoka City Tourism Association is seeking participants to fill five cavalry roles. Each spot is 300,000 yen ($2,000).
First held in 1973 to commemorate warlord Akechi Mitsuhide , the festival features a grand procession with historical re-enactors portraying Mitsuhide and his retainers. Last year, the association offered a foreign tourist the opportunity to play Hidemitsu, Mitsuhide's son-in-law, for 100,000 yen — marking the first time a non-Japanese participant took the role.
Photo credit: Asahi
After receiving requests for group participants last year, the association decided to let foreign visitors join the cavalry this time around. Although the fee is even higher than the 200,000 yen required to play Mitsuhide, the association believes the experience is worth the price since participants can ride a horse and wear samurai armour. Kameoka is home to Tanba Kameyama Castle, which is said to have been built by Mitsuhide.
More on Akechi Mitsuhide and Tanba Kameyama Castle:
First held in 1973 to commemorate warlord Akechi Mitsuhide , the festival features a grand procession with historical re-enactors portraying Mitsuhide and his retainers. Last year, the association offered a foreign tourist the opportunity to play Hidemitsu, Mitsuhide's son-in-law, for 100,000 yen — marking the first time a non-Japanese participant took the role.
Photo credit: Asahi
After receiving requests for group participants last year, the association decided to let foreign visitors join the cavalry this time around. Although the fee is even higher than the 200,000 yen required to play Mitsuhide, the association believes the experience is worth the price since participants can ride a horse and wear samurai armour. Kameoka is home to Tanba Kameyama Castle, which is said to have been built by Mitsuhide.
More on Akechi Mitsuhide and Tanba Kameyama Castle:
Castle Tamba Kameyama Castle
Kameyama Castle (亀山城 Kameyama-jō) is a former hilltop castle located in Kameoka, the former province of Tamba (丹波国), about ten kilometres west of Kyōto. Its construction began under Akechi Mitsuhide (明智光秀, 1528-1582), a vassal of Oda Nobunaga, in the Tenshō period (天正, 1573–1592). It was...
- Hiroto Uehara
- Category: Kyoto
Bio Akechi Mitsuhide (1528-1582)
Akechi Mitsuhide (明智光秀, 1528-1582), also known under the title Koretō Hyūga no Kami (惟任日向守), was one of the principal captains of hegemon Oda Nobunaga and his assassin.
A man of obscure origins, Mitsuhide was said to have been born into the Toki-Akechi family of the Toki clan (土岐氏) and sided...
