Gion Festival

I received an email today from my childhood friend who is now living in Japan. She attached pictures she took in a matsuri currently celebrated in Kyoto.

Gion Festival, one of the biggest festivals celebrated in Japan is no stranger to having an audience of over a thousand people joining in the celebration.

Every summer, the ancient capital of Japan, Kyoto （京都） is taken back in time to the 9th century by Yasaka shrine ( 八阪神社 ) where
Japanese girls attend the festivities wearing Yukata – summer kimono (浴衣) and Geta (木屐). Streets are lined with vendors selling traditional sweets and savoury snacks of all sorts.

Gion festival started in 869 A.D when a bad plague spread through Kyoto devasting the economy leaving many poor and desolute. In the very first festival, young men would carry wooden floats to signify divine intervention in hope to end the plague. The plague eventually did end, and since than, this event became a popular celebration of triumph.

The highlights of the celebration are Yoi-yama (宵山祭) held on the 16th and Yamahoko-junko （山牟巡行）held on the 17th of July.

At Yoi-yama, people open the doors of their houses to show their treasured old folding screens. Yamahoko-junko is the parade of colorful floats （彩车） through downtown Kyoto. The floats are pulled through the streets by teams of men dressed in traditional costumes. Each of these large floats will carry an orchestral of musicians!

There are mainly two kinds of floats: yama （山） and hook （牟）.
Yama are smaller floats (weight: 1.2 ton - 1.6 ton, height: about 6m) and are carried by people on their shoulders. Hoko on the flip side of the coin, are giant floats (weight: 4.8 ton - 12 ton, height: about 25m) on large wooden wheels and pulled by people. There are usually 32 floats in the parade: 25 yama floats and 7 hoko floats.

Quite a celebration to usher in summer!!!

I am SO wishing I were there to witness it all now!!! SOOO envious!