Baika Sai 2008

Geisha and maiko host "Nodate" (an outdoor tea ceremony) beneath the plum blossoms during the Baika-sai, which takes takes place at Kitano-tenmangu Shrine each year on February 25. Visitors at the shrine can look on as they commemorate Sugawara Michizane on the anniversary of his death. Sugawara Michizane was a well-known scholar, politician, and plum-blossom aficionado of the Heian-era who is celebrated as the god of study in the shrine on the anniversary of his death.

Advance tickets to the festival are available and highly recommended as Baika-sai usually attracts crowds of thousands.