Gion Festival. Children dressed for Shinto dances pose for photographer at the Yasaka Shrine.

Gion Festival. Portrait of young girl with white painted face signifying purity and gentleness of birth.

Gion Festival. Pageboys in elaborate costume parade in festival procession shielded from the sun by paper parasols carried by their attendants.

Gion Festival. The chigo the figure of greatest importance in the festival dressed in richly decorated silk robes of a Heian nobleman. Prior to the Edo period the chigo was always the son of a sam...

Gion Festival. Four days before the festival climax the chigo the pageboy of the god to whom the festival is dedicated dressed in the silk robes of a Heian nobleman is taken on a white horse to a...

Line of bowed musicians at village festival. In feudal times Kyushu was notable for the power of its great daimyo families and the festival celebrates the samurai with traditional dance and displays...

Young boy wearing traditional costume and carrying short sword at village festival. In feudal times Kyushu was notable for the power of its great daimyo families and the festival celebrates the samur...

Gathering for ceremony of libation of first mare s milk of the season.

Young herdsmen circling camp abreast on horseback for ceremony of libation of first mare s milk of the season.

Ceremony of libation of first mare s milk of the season for crop of foals. Herdsmen pour milk on to head of foal.

Family attending naming ceremony.

Circuit Trek. Red painted animal totem representing the God of the Gauchan clan of the Thakalis during the Lha Phewa Festival in Larjung villageAsia Asian Nepalese Religious Religion