Kannamesai Festival
History
History
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The festival may have its roots in the legend from Emperor Suinin's time in which Princess [Yamatohime\-no\-mikoto](/wiki/Yamatohime-no-mikoto "Yamatohime-no-mikoto") looked for a place to enshrine the Imperial Family's ancestral spirits during which she made an offering of rice stalks in the beak of a white\-naped crane.

This became a true festival in 721 when Empress Genshō sent offerings called  to Ise Shrine in the ninth month of the lunar calendar. The practice stopped in the Middle Ages but restarted during the Edo period. After Japan adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1873, the ninth month no longer aligned with the harvest season of rice, and the Kannamesai was moved to October in 1879 to compensate.


What happened when Japan adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1873?