Uneme Matsuri

The Uneme Matsuri is the annual festival held on the night of the harvest moon each year at Uneme Shrine in Nara, Nara Prefecture. Deriving from a tragic love legend associated with Uneme Shrine, which stands beside Sarusawa Pond in Nara Park, it is known as a dreamlike festival coloring autumn in the ancient capital of Nara, elegantly held under the moonlight.

This festival is based on a sorrowful tale from the Nara period. It is said that an uneme—a court lady serving the emperor—who grieved at losing the emperor's affection, threw herself into Sarusawa Pond and ended her life. Uneme Shrine was built to console her spirit, and a curious legend remains that the shrine building stands with its back to the pond, as it could not bear to look upon the waters into which she cast herself.

The festival's greatest highlight is the "Kangen-bune rite" held on the night of the harvest moon. As gagaku court music plays, two ornate boats shaped with a dragon head and a mythical bird's head slowly circle Sarusawa Pond, carrying a "hana-ōgi" flower fan. The scene woven by the full moon reflected on the water, the lantern light, and the strains of gagaku is as elegant as a Heian picture-scroll. Unfolding over the long autumn night, this festival conveys to the present the legend handed down in the ancient capital and the refinement of court culture.