An illustration of the Ushi Matsuri or “Cow Festival” (牛祭) at Kōryūji Temple (広隆寺), counted as one of the Three Peculiar Festivals of Kyoto
Reportedly initiated by the Tendai monk Genshin (源信) in the early 11th century so as to invoke the powers of the local guardian deity Matarajin (摩多羅神) for the sake of peace and well-being in the land, it took place during the ninth month of the year starting from the temple’s protective shrine Ōsake Jinja (大酒神社) before the 1870′s, was discontinued for a short while during the government’s separation of Buddhism and Shinto, and was then revived as an event taking place in October under the auspices of the temple itself--though in recent decades the difficulties of handling a cow in an urban setting have led to the festival’s gradually intermittent abeyance
Illustration from “Picture Album of Annual Festivals in the Capital” (都年中行事画帖), 1928, written by Ema Tsutomu (江馬務) and illustrated by Nakajima Sōyō (中島荘陽)