Archers in Hunting Dress Will Gallop Past Three Targets at Kamakura's Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine on Wednesday
The Ogasawara school performs the mounted archery ritual on the final day of the shrine's grand festival, with free viewing along the course.
Mounted archers from the Ogasawara school of archery, horsemanship and etiquette are scheduled to perform yabusame at Tsurugaoka Hachimangu shrine in Kamakura on Wednesday 16 September 2026, the final day of the shrine's annual grand festival, which runs from 14 to 16 September.
Rituals begin at 1pm at the shrine's Maidono hall, after which spectators can no longer cross the course, and the riding is expected to start at about 2pm and finish after 3pm, according to a Kamakura guide updated on 14 September. Viewing is free and needs no registration, though access is controlled, and the paid wristband seats sold in past years are no longer offered.
Riders in traditional hunting costume gallop along a straight course of about 250 metres that runs towards the main shrine and shoot at three targets in turn, with only seconds between each. The first target stands about 36 metres from the start.
The ritual traces its origins to 1187, when Minamoto no Yoritomo had mounted archery offered at the shrine's hojoe ceremony, and it forms part of a festival held for more than 800 years. Until 2023, the shrine's spring yabusame was performed by the Takeda school as part of the Kamakura Festival.
The afternoon continues with a dance at 4pm and, at 5pm, a ceremony in which bell crickets offered at the festival are released beside the shrine's Yanagihara pond. The spring yabusame was held on 19 April this year.