Japan traditional Aoi Matsuri

People in traditional costumes paraded through the streets of the ancient Japanese capital Kyoto on Wednesday for the annual Aoi Matsuri festival. Aoi is Japanese for Hollyhock, and the festival is named after the Hollyhock leaves that are worn by the members of the procession.

The festival is annually held on May 15th and one of Kyoto's three most famous festivals. Dates back 1,400 years when the Emperor Kinmei got horses to pray for a bountiful harvest. It features a procession decorated with Aoi. The roughly 1-kilometer-long procession included about 500 people dressed in clothes modeled on those favored by aristocrats during the Heian period, which began in the late eighth century.