Photos

The autumn Festival in Nikko, known as Sennin Musha Gyoretsu or the Procession of 1000 Warriors, though actually only about 850 took part in this day's procession (the spring festival in May is bigger). And they're not all dressed as warriors. At any rate, the procession is about one kilometre long, and leads from Toshogu Shrine to another building down the hill where Shinto ceremonies take place. A couple of hours later they come back up the hill. This present procession is almost the same as the one held three hundred years ago, and some parts of the costumes (and presumably weapons) date back to that time.
Photo resized and Neat Image applied to reduce the file size.