38Yabusame
When looking at the festival scrolls from the Edo period, we can see that Yabusame is drawn following after the mythical creature, Kida. In the chronicles of Yatsushiro from the Edo period, it is written that Yabusame, or horseback archery, took place after the end of the festival and after all the processions, such as the kasaboko, were returned to their homes.
A newspaper in 1880 also wrote that the Yatsushiro Myōken Festival took place on October 18th and that Yabusame took place on the 20th.
Looking at all this, we believe that Yabusame was held after the festival was over. We can see a record of this in a newspaper from 1916, although, since then, it seems that Yabusame is no longer held during the Yatsushiro Myōken Festival.
The current form of Yabusame was revived in 2013 and is part of the procession.
