Today was the third and last day of the festival and is deemed to be the highlight in which men in samurai costumes shoot arrows at targets while riding past them at the gallop.  It takes place in the afternoon but the crowds gather early as you would for a peek at a coronation procession say.  You see quite a few people have gathered under the trees while the near ground is relatively empty (there's a reason for that I'll come to later) but some positions have been staked out.

The dirt track the archers gallop along is the narrow strip between the ropes.  It's about two metres wide and some 250 metres long.  The targets are wooden squares mounted on the bamboo pole in front of a black background.  There are three targets over the length of the track.

Crowds gather and evetually at one o'clock it starts.  But the start is a ceremony not many people can see.  These people are all straining so see but it's miles away really.

While the ceremony is taking place we are treated to the history of struggles for power and the developments related to the founding of the shrine and this festival etc over a loudspeaker system in Japanese and in English.  That takes a good 30 minutes and nobody Japanese or otherwise seems to be terribly interested.

Then we have a parade of dignitaries and archers.  Now at least that's something to look at though it does take a long time.  But I got some decent pictures even if some are backs rather than fronts.

The lads in the last picture are carrying the wooden targets that are mounted on the bamboo poles.

As I said all this went on and on until at about two o'clock we were ready to roll.  That's when getting pictures stopped being easy. Neither my finger, my aim, gaps in the crowd nor my shutter speed were up to it.  Here's my best, part of a horseman and a target at the instant of shattering.

After the three principal archers had done their stuff, maybe they had two rides each I'm not sure.  I think only archer one hit all three targets but heat and thirst was taking its toll.  So when they announced that after a short break another seventeen archers would be having a go I began to wilt. There was some strategic and complicated difference between the initial three and the subsequent seventeen but I didn't grasp it.

However I did have a go at videoing a couple before deciding to head for home.  One video seems to be too big but this one at least has been uploaded.

It's tiny but I like it and maybe I can make it better when I get back to blighty.  Now I did say that there was a reason for there being a bit more room on my side of the track.  As people gathered on my side I noticed that they were all wearing little red and white rosettes.  So I suspected I wasn't entitled to be there.  Nobody seemed bothered or maybe they were just too polite to draw attention to it but when I decided it was time to go and wandered along to where I thought I could get out I was spotted and an officious official demanded to see my badge.  I simulated ignorance but he wasn't fooled and I was ejected.

Now I'm in Tokyo in a hotel room that reeks of smoke.  I certainly didn't intentionally book a smoking room but they don't have a non-smoker available so I'm a bit stuck.  Worse things happen at sea I suppose.