Hiraoka Hachimangu Autumn Festival (Sanyaku Sumo & Kenboko)

Held every year on the second Sunday of October, this is the autumn festival of Hiraoka Hachimangu, a shrine in Umegahata on the road up to Takao in northwest Kyoto. Said to have been founded by Kobo Daishi (Kukai), it is regarded as the oldest Hachiman shrine in the old Yamashiro Province. Two rituals here are registered as Intangible Folk Cultural Properties of Kyoto City: Sanyaku Sumo, where local children wrestle young men and are always declared the winners, and Kenboko-sashi, where bearers balance tall ritual halberds while making their bells ring. In the afternoon a mikoshi portable shrine is carried around the neighbourhood. A good pick if you want to see a village-scale festival in Kyoto's hills rather than a big-city parade.