Gion Matsuri
From July 14th to 17th, Kyoto was the stage for the Gion Matsuri (祇園祭), said to be one of the three largest festivals in Japan. From a guide I've received from a Japanese teacher:
"The history of the Gion Matsuri is almost as long as the History of the City of Kyoto itself. In the year 869, national disaster struck Japan. Every summer, disease and sickness would infect the population, but in 869 the epidemic reached national proportions. In order to check this epidemic, the Emperor Seiwa requested the chief priest of the Yasaka Shrine to hold a festival. So, on the seventh day of the sixth month of the lunar calendar in 869, the first Gion Festival took place. The townspeople built sixty-six floats which they carried through the streets of the old capital. One week later, the deities of the Yasaka Shrine, which include Susano-o-no-mikoto, were placed in portable shrines and carried past homes to purify streets and protect the inhabitants from the evil spirits which had caused the epidemic. The Yasaka Shrine's status among the shrines of Kyoto and its prestige steadily increased from this date.
In the year 970, the Gion Festival became an annual event. By the end of the tenth century, it had assumed the pomp and splendor apparent today in the floats in the procession. Already by this date, two types of large floats, musicians, dancers, comic plays, and artistic treasures were part of the festival. The floats with protray both Buddhist and Shinto legends, had become representatives of the different guilds and sections of the city. The epidemic which had been the origin of the festival had long ago been forgotten, and the Gion Festival had alreadt begun to develop into a festival of the merchants and the common people.
(...)
From a beginning related to death and disease, the Gion Festival has become an expression of the joy and fervor of the people of Japan. Whereas Imperial festivals have waned in popularity, the Gion Festival, the supreme example of a peoples' festival, has constantly maintained popularity and interest among the people of Kyoto and the citizens of all Japan. It is today considered the most important of the Three Grand Festivals of Japan.
The Gion Festival encompresses the whole month of July. On July 1, people who are in charge of performing the festival gather in each block of floats to settle the procedure of the festival, people flock to Yasaka Shrine to buy amulets and good luck charms for good fortune in the coming year. The following day, the priests of Yasaka Shrine and Kyoto city officials meet to determine the order of the floats in the procession which marks the secular climax of the festival. Only eight floats are not included in this drawing for position, for their location is determined by tradition. On July 10, the portable shrines in which the deities are carried through the city are taken to the Kamo River for purification ceremonies. The most festive period begins the evening of July 16, and continues through the next day. People who live in the downtown area of Kyoto open their homes and exibit their family treasures to passersby who are touring the city, inspecting the floats which have been placed in whichever part of the city they represent. Then, the next morning, the grand procession winds through the city, completely halting the normal activity of Kyoto for a day. Finally, on July 24 the portable shrines, which have been standing in an especially bustling part of the city for one week, are returned to Yasaka shrine until the next year."
On July 14th I went there with my host family and the other international students of that family (a Chinese girl and an Argentine girl). A nice time with my "foster family", including a ticket to enter one of the floats (船鉾). The only problem is that, worse than being at a crowded place is being at a crowded outdoors place... when it's raining!
And it wasn't just any rain. A typhoon was getting close to the region (it hit Kyushu pretty hard), and that rain had its influence. If someone is worried, the typhoon didn't arrive here. It lost its strenght before that.
Back to the subject, it was nice because of the company and having my first taste of Gion Matsuri, but the rain forced us to leave earlier... after finding some place to dinner together.
The next day I went with other Brazilian exchange students (not only, though). With a better weather, the place was more crowded. Although less than the previous year, according to some people who went last year. Probably the typhoon made people from places away from Kyoto cancel their trips... I wonder...
Well, most of the girls (and Artem) decided to wear yukata, so they took longer to show up. But I have to admit it was worth the wait. I decided to avoid yukata this year because of the rain forecast (rain plus yukata is not a pleasant combination...) and becasue I don't know how to wear it. Maybe I should wear one next year.
I guess that day was an ordinary "enjoy the festival" day. We strolled around, ate something and had fun. What else can one do during a festival?
On Tuesday 17th there was the parade. And I went there to watch with Fabio (from Kobe) and Tiemi (Kyoto). She made us go to the station around 7 a.m. (something for which we still tease her) to watch the parade at the Karasuma-Oike corner. Well, at least we got good places to watch (except for all the people behind pushing us as the floats were passing...), since we arrived early.
There's a point on watching the parade at the corners where the floats have to turn (such as Shijo-Karasuma and Karasuma-Oike). The point is watching HOW they turn a float with more than 10 tons weight. Some bamboos under the wheels and some physical strenght do most of the work, but watching how they do it is worth the sacrifice of waking up early and being compressed in the middle of a crowd.
There were other unusual scenes, like some seniors who were having a tea during the parade while the rest of the group were turning the float...
After that, we still decided to enjoy the company of our visitor from Kobe a little more and strolled around central Kyoto for the rest of the day, including the place where the festival was held on the previous days and where we could see the floats being dismantled and The Museum of Kyoto (京都文化博物館).
Largest festival of Kyoto... checked!
"The history of the Gion Matsuri is almost as long as the History of the City of Kyoto itself. In the year 869, national disaster struck Japan. Every summer, disease and sickness would infect the population, but in 869 the epidemic reached national proportions. In order to check this epidemic, the Emperor Seiwa requested the chief priest of the Yasaka Shrine to hold a festival. So, on the seventh day of the sixth month of the lunar calendar in 869, the first Gion Festival took place. The townspeople built sixty-six floats which they carried through the streets of the old capital. One week later, the deities of the Yasaka Shrine, which include Susano-o-no-mikoto, were placed in portable shrines and carried past homes to purify streets and protect the inhabitants from the evil spirits which had caused the epidemic. The Yasaka Shrine's status among the shrines of Kyoto and its prestige steadily increased from this date.
In the year 970, the Gion Festival became an annual event. By the end of the tenth century, it had assumed the pomp and splendor apparent today in the floats in the procession. Already by this date, two types of large floats, musicians, dancers, comic plays, and artistic treasures were part of the festival. The floats with protray both Buddhist and Shinto legends, had become representatives of the different guilds and sections of the city. The epidemic which had been the origin of the festival had long ago been forgotten, and the Gion Festival had alreadt begun to develop into a festival of the merchants and the common people.
(...)
From a beginning related to death and disease, the Gion Festival has become an expression of the joy and fervor of the people of Japan. Whereas Imperial festivals have waned in popularity, the Gion Festival, the supreme example of a peoples' festival, has constantly maintained popularity and interest among the people of Kyoto and the citizens of all Japan. It is today considered the most important of the Three Grand Festivals of Japan.
The Gion Festival encompresses the whole month of July. On July 1, people who are in charge of performing the festival gather in each block of floats to settle the procedure of the festival, people flock to Yasaka Shrine to buy amulets and good luck charms for good fortune in the coming year. The following day, the priests of Yasaka Shrine and Kyoto city officials meet to determine the order of the floats in the procession which marks the secular climax of the festival. Only eight floats are not included in this drawing for position, for their location is determined by tradition. On July 10, the portable shrines in which the deities are carried through the city are taken to the Kamo River for purification ceremonies. The most festive period begins the evening of July 16, and continues through the next day. People who live in the downtown area of Kyoto open their homes and exibit their family treasures to passersby who are touring the city, inspecting the floats which have been placed in whichever part of the city they represent. Then, the next morning, the grand procession winds through the city, completely halting the normal activity of Kyoto for a day. Finally, on July 24 the portable shrines, which have been standing in an especially bustling part of the city for one week, are returned to Yasaka shrine until the next year."
On July 14th I went there with my host family and the other international students of that family (a Chinese girl and an Argentine girl). A nice time with my "foster family", including a ticket to enter one of the floats (船鉾). The only problem is that, worse than being at a crowded place is being at a crowded outdoors place... when it's raining!
And it wasn't just any rain. A typhoon was getting close to the region (it hit Kyushu pretty hard), and that rain had its influence. If someone is worried, the typhoon didn't arrive here. It lost its strenght before that.
Back to the subject, it was nice because of the company and having my first taste of Gion Matsuri, but the rain forced us to leave earlier... after finding some place to dinner together.
The next day I went with other Brazilian exchange students (not only, though). With a better weather, the place was more crowded. Although less than the previous year, according to some people who went last year. Probably the typhoon made people from places away from Kyoto cancel their trips... I wonder...
Well, most of the girls (and Artem) decided to wear yukata, so they took longer to show up. But I have to admit it was worth the wait. I decided to avoid yukata this year because of the rain forecast (rain plus yukata is not a pleasant combination...) and becasue I don't know how to wear it. Maybe I should wear one next year.
I guess that day was an ordinary "enjoy the festival" day. We strolled around, ate something and had fun. What else can one do during a festival?
On Tuesday 17th there was the parade. And I went there to watch with Fabio (from Kobe) and Tiemi (Kyoto). She made us go to the station around 7 a.m. (something for which we still tease her) to watch the parade at the Karasuma-Oike corner. Well, at least we got good places to watch (except for all the people behind pushing us as the floats were passing...), since we arrived early.
There's a point on watching the parade at the corners where the floats have to turn (such as Shijo-Karasuma and Karasuma-Oike). The point is watching HOW they turn a float with more than 10 tons weight. Some bamboos under the wheels and some physical strenght do most of the work, but watching how they do it is worth the sacrifice of waking up early and being compressed in the middle of a crowd.
There were other unusual scenes, like some seniors who were having a tea during the parade while the rest of the group were turning the float...
After that, we still decided to enjoy the company of our visitor from Kobe a little more and strolled around central Kyoto for the rest of the day, including the place where the festival was held on the previous days and where we could see the floats being dismantled and The Museum of Kyoto (京都文化博物館).
Largest festival of Kyoto... checked!
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