Well, its practically zero degrees right now where I am. Time to think back on warmer times – so lets try summer in Japan!
A few years back when Jeff and I took our niece, Emma to Japan, we were there at the right time to enjoy some of festivities of Japans most famous festival, the Gion Matsuri.
Who doesn’t like to dress up and go out? Especially in another country where you get to try out some traditional clothes and browse all night on local food!
Oh it was hot and muggy! Everyone had fans! Totally essential
The Gion Festival has been a yearly event almost without interruption for nearly 1200 years!!
Periods of hardship were countered by the emperor at the time by demanding prayers be sent to the God of the Yasaka Shrine. This was in 869.
66 decorated halberds (an axe head on a spear) were made and displayed at the Shinsen-en Garden along with portable shrines.
In 970 it became a yearly event.
The floats – especially the Hoko – are huge and impressive. They are stored in the merchants districts when not in use and cared for by the people in each local area.
The three nights leading up to the main parade on the 17th July are well worth going to. The streets are blocked off to traffic. Food stalls set up, people everywhere in traditional dress and the floats are lit up so people can get a good close look.
If you are lucky you might get a glimpse of a Maiko!
There was a huge crush of people, but if you are patient, they do keep moving along and you just ‘go with the flow’
The festival runs the entire month of July with something happening on each day. As I mentioned above, the main parade is the 17th when untold thousands of people line the streets of Kyoto to watch the floats pulled down the three kilometer route.
Its quite the event to see them do the 90 degree turn around the corners. These behemoths have no steering. There are a bunch of guys with fans standing at the front of the float that co-ordinate the people pulling. Slats of bamboo are laid on the ground under the wheels and buckets of water sloshed over the area. With a series of timed pulls, the great floats are slowly maneuvered around the turns.
It boggles my mind to think this festival has been going for so long. We went into an information/museum area and looked at the records on display, and honestly… you could count on two hands the number of times the festival been missed since 970.
Even when fires destroyed floats, people rebuilt them in time so the festival could go on.
I hope you have enjoyed a little glimpse of this wonderful event. If you are in Japan in July you shouldn’t miss it! Don’t forget your fan and a lot of water! You’ll need it!
Cheers
Ahhh finally found the link for this in my “Pocket” – where I keep all the blog posts I want to read! Took me long enough, eh? You’re not the only one floored by how long this thing has been going on, that’s longer than many countries have been around, boggles the mind. Absolutely stunning photography and it definitely makes me want to check things out all the more. While I adore the idea of going to the UK, Europe or Australia and it’s surrounding bits, Japan has been calling to me almost as long as the rest. So very alien, so very intricate. Someday!
I love it because the culture is so different!
It really REALLY makes you feel like you are on holiday because nothing is really familiar and its such an adventure! 🙂