Photo= Poets in Heian costumes compose their poems in a garden with maple leaves just beginning to turn red (Jonangu Shrine, Fushimi Ward, Kyoto)

"Kyokusui no Utage," a Shinto ritual in which participants create waka poem before a cup of sake floats down a stream to them, took place on November 3, in Jonangu Shrine, Fushimi Ward, Kyoto. Visitors enjoyed the scenic "picture scroll" of the Heian dynasty, with the garden, and its Japanese maples' leaves beginning to turn red, as the stage.

The annual event takes place every spring and fall. "The Imperial Palace's Autumn" was selected as the poetic theme this fall for the centenary commemoration of Emperor Taisho's coronation ceremony held in the Kyoto Imperial Palace.

Seven waka poets, who have presided over tanka societies, were dressed in the court fashions of "kariginu" for nobles or "kouchigi" for court ladies. Seated along a stream bank in the garden, they wrote their poems on strips of paper, as a koto melody wafted through the air. As the cup of sake drifted by, they lifted the cup and drank.

Visitors leisurely enjoyed autumn moments as they watched the poets' elegant gestures.